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Resolute A127 - £120k Payout


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#1 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 03:23 PM

Hi All

Not wishing to step on our resident 'new hounds' toes but this piece was in the local news rag here in Whitley Bay/North Shields and may not have been picked up   ???

Courtesy of the News Guardian @ http://www.newsguard...yout.4739699.jp

Trawlerman wins £120,000 insurance payout

Published Date: 27 November 2008
By NEWS REPORTER

A FLEETWOOD trawler skipper whose fishing boat was gutted by fire on its mooring after he and the crew went out for the evening today finally won the right to a £120,000 insurance payout.
Ever since his trawler "Resolute" burst into flames when harboured in North Shields in June 2006, skipper John Pratt has been engaged in a legal struggle with insurers who refused to pay out.

The 21-metre long trawler had been out fishing for prawns and Mr Pratt and the crew had gone out socialising when the blaze took hold in the galley, effectively writing off the vessel.

The fire was so fierce that investigators could not be certain where the seat of the blaze lay.

Although "loss by human agency could not be completely ruled out", it was considered unlikely and the most probabley cause was a malfunction in a fridge or a deep fat fryer in the galley.

But the vessel's insurers - Aigaion Insurance Company SA - refused to pay out for the loss.

They pointed to a clause in the policy which stated that "Resolute" would only be covered if an experienced skipper was "on board and in charge at all times", along with one experienced crew member. The vessel was empty when the fire took hold.

In March this year, Mr Pratt suffered a severe blow when an Admiralty Court judge ruled the loss was not covered by the insurance policy.

However, that ruling has now been overturned by three judges at London's Civil Appeal Court, with the result that Mr Pratt will now receive his £120,000.

The nation's top civil judge - the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke - said fishing and other vessels are "very often" left by their crews after being safely tied up and there was nothing unreasonable in that.

Describing the clause in the insurance policy as "ambiguous", he said it had to be interpreted as meaning that the skipper and an experienced crew member had to be on board when the vessel was manoeuvring at sea or when they might be needed "if something should go wrong".

"That was not the case when the crew left the vessel to go ashore", observed the judge, who was sitting with Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton.

Lord Justice Burnton agreed that "no one could have sensibly thought that any crew should or could be on board" when the fire took hold.

On a "sensible reading" of the insurance policy, the skipper and one experienced crew member were only required to be on board "when the vessel is being navigated or in other circumstances where their presence would be appropriate", the judge concluded.

Photograph of her lying in North Shields @ http://www.trawlerpi...sa=view;id=2541

#2 quiet waters

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 03:40 PM

seems like he still lost out in the longterm, £120,000 might be a lot of money but it would never replace like for like
And their teeth will be blunted like lions and they will be cast away on whirlwinds and such!!!!

#3 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 03:56 PM

Quote

seems like he still lost out in the longterm, £120,000 might be a lot of money but it would never replace like for like

Hi QW

As per usual the Insurance Co tried to weasel out of paying a penny - I wonder who is picking up the legal costs? - also the 2 years berthing fees!

#4 Jammy

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 03:59 PM

plus the costs the man has incurred in two years without his boat will it evne cover him
at least he got a payout of some sort

#5 KEVIND

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 06:52 PM

JOHN WAS GETTING LEGAL AID DUE TO BEING OUT OV WORK

#6 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 07:01 PM

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JOHN WAS GETTING LEGAL AID DUE TO BEING OUT OV WORK

Hi Kevin

Good to hear that at least - Insurance Co's are all the same - they want your premiums quick enough but not as quick when they have to pay out.



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