2012년 해상법 중요 판례 소개

During the year of 2012, the Korean Supreme Court rendered 4 important decisions. In the Hebei Spirit case, the Court explained that the reckless behavior of the ship owner required more than the gross negligence in order for the claimant to prevent the ship owner from invoking the limitation of liability. The Court also decided that the recourse claims of the carrier against the ship owner who was partly liable for the reck removal was subject to limitation. Shipping agent was decided as commercial agent of the merchant(ship owner) by the Court. The Court upheld that the shipping agent was eligible for exercising a maritime lien when it stand on the shoes of the claimant. In the rehabilitation proceeding, the Court decided that the claim for unpaid freight was a kind of claim for common interest and thus it could be paid freely by the carrier regardless of the rehabilitation proceeding if the carrier’s administrator decided that the contract would be executed. In the lower court decisions, the prejudgment attachment was regarded as a kind of a raising law suit to trigger the application of Article 814. The Seoul High Court decided that if foreign factors are involved in the marine insurance case, the Korean compulsory rules such as Act for regulating General Terms was not applied to the case under English governing law clause. Korean government corrected the Oil Pollution Compensation Act in line with the Bunker Convention so that the shipowner is no longer allowed to limit the cleaning expenses for oil pollution caused by a general cargo vessel.