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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Other commercial matters - Bills of lading, sea waybills, and ship’s delivery orders - Rights under shipping documents

317: Rights may be exercised for benefit of person who suffers loss or damage

You could also call this:

“You can get help if your shipped items are damaged, even if you're not the one who can sue”

If you have an interest in goods that are being shipped, but someone else has the right to take legal action if something goes wrong with the shipping, this law helps protect you. It says that even if you can’t take legal action yourself, the person who can do so must act for your benefit. This means that if you suffer a loss because the shipping contract was not followed properly, the person with the legal right to sue can use that right to help you. They can do this just as if you had the right to sue yourself.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844694.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection Business > Fair trading
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316: Rights in relation to ship’s delivery order, or

"Your rights when receiving goods from a ship are based on what the delivery order says"

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318: Transfer extinguishes certain rights, or

"When you give away rights to a shipping document, you usually can't use those rights anymore"

Part 5 Other commercial matters
Bills of lading, sea waybills, and ship’s delivery orders: Rights under shipping documents

317Rights may be exercised for benefit of person who suffers loss or damage

  1. This section applies if, in relation to a document to which this subpart applies,—

  2. a person (B) with an interest or a right in, or in relation to, goods to which the document relates suffers loss or damage because of a breach of the contract of carriage; but
    1. section 314 applies in relation to the document so that rights to bring a proceeding for the breach are vested in another person (A).

      1. A may exercise the rights referred to in subsection (1)(b) for the benefit of B to the same extent as the rights could have been exercised if they had been vested in B.

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