Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Maritime Transport Act 1994

Liability where 2 or more ships involved

96: Right of contribution

You could also call this:

"When ships share blame, owners can ask each other to help pay damages."

If you own a ship and someone on your ship is hurt because of your ship's fault and another ship's fault, you might have to pay damages. You can ask the other ship's owners to help pay if you had to pay more than your share of the fault. You can only ask for the amount that is more than your share of the fault, and you can only ask from the other ship's owners to the extent they were at fault. If there's a law or contract that limits or stops you from getting damages, you can't get that amount back from the other ship's owners either.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM336225.

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95: Damages for personal injury, or

"Getting compensation if you're hurt on a ship due to someone else's fault"

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97: Limitation of actions, or

"Time limit to take someone to court over ship damage or accidents"

Part 8Liability where 2 or more ships involved

96Right of contribution

  1. Subject to subsection (2), where, by the fault of 2 or more ships, any person on board one of the ships is killed or injured, and a proportion of the damages is recovered against the owners of one of the ships that exceeds the proportion in which that ship was at fault, those owners may recover the amount of the excess by way of contribution from the owners of the other ship or ships to the extent to which those ships were respectively at fault.

  2. No amount shall be recovered under subsection (1) that could not, by reason of any statutory or contractual limitation of or exemption from liability, or for any other reasons, have been recovered in the first instance as damages by the persons entitled to sue for damages.

  3. In addition to any other remedy provided by law, the persons entitled to any contribution under this section shall, for the purpose of recovering the contribution, have, subject to the provisions of this Act, the same rights and powers as the persons entitled to sue for damages in the first instance.

Compare
  • 1952 No 49 s 471
  • 1987 No 184 s 23