Textainer Equipment Management B.V. v. Baltic Shipping Co. et al., (1994) 84 F.T.R. 108 (TD)

• Judge: Muldoon, J.
• Court: Federal Court (Canada)
• Case Date: August 26, 1994
• Jurisdiction: Canada (Federal)
• Citations: (1994), 84 F.T.R. 108 (TD)

Textainer Equipment v. Baltic Shipping (1994), 84 F.T.R. 108 (TD)

MLB headnote and full text

Textainer Equipment Management B.V. (plaintiff) v. Baltic Shipping Company, The Motor Vessels Nikolay Golovanov, Akademik Gorbunov, Aleksandr Prokofyev, Aleksandr Ulyanov, Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, Anatoliy Vasilyev, (and all those other ships listed in the statement of claim, to, and including) William Foster, and The Owners and All Others Interested in the Said Motor Vessels (defendants)

(T-1995-94)

Indexed As: Textainer Equipment Management B.V. v. Baltic Shipping Co. et al.

Federal Court of Canada

Trial Division

Muldoon, J.

August 29, 1994.

Summary:

Textainer sued the Baltic Shipping Company for failure to pay rent on containers it had leased from Textainer. Textainer arrested one of Baltic's ships. Baltic applied to strike the in rem portions of Textainer's claim and thereby set aside the warrant for arrest and dismiss the arrest of the ship on the grounds that the pleadings disclosed no reasonable cause of action.

The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, dismissed the application.

Admiralty - Topic 8132

Practice - Actions in rem - Warrants of arrest - Setting aside - [See Admiralty - Topic 8341 ].

Admiralty - Topic 8341

Practice - Actions in rem - Liens - Contractual liens - Textainer sued the Baltic Shipping Company for failure to pay rent on containers it had leased from Textainer - Textainer arrested one of Baltic's ships - Baltic applied to strike the in rem portions of Textainer's claim and thereby set aside the warrant for arrest and dismiss the ship's arrest on the grounds that the pleadings disclosed no reasonable cause of action - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, dismissed the application - The parties had agreed that, if default occurred, a lien would attach to all of the vessels in Baltic's container fleet - This was not to suggest that the parties could, by agreement, invent a "maritime lien" where none was yet discovered in Canadian maritime law.

Admiralty - Topic 8516

Practice - Pleadings - Striking out - Failure to disclose cause of action - [See Admiralty - Topic 8341 ].

Courts - Topic 4026

Federal Court of Canada - Jurisdiction - Trial Division - Maritime and admiralty matters - Textainer sued the Baltic Shipping Company for failure to pay rent on containers it had leased from Textainer - Textainer arrested one of Baltic's ships - Baltic applied to strike the in rem portions of Textainer's claim and thereby set aside the warrant for arrest and dismiss the ship's arrest on the grounds that the pleadings disclosed no reasonable cause of action - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, dismissed the application - The court in its admiralty and maritime role exercised equitable as well as legal jurisdiction - The parties had agreed that, if default occurred, a lien would attach to all of the vessels in Baltic's container fleet - Equity imputed an obligation to fulfil an obligation and Baltic had unclean hands.

Equity - Topic 1482

Equitable principles respecting relief - Clean hands doctrine - Application of - [See Courts - Topic 4026 ].

Cases Noticed:

Ship River Rima, Re, [1988] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 193 (H.L.), refd to. [para. 7 et seq.].

Banco do Brasil S.A. v. Ship Alexandros G. Tsavliris et al., [1992] 3 F.C. 735; 145 N.R. 140 (F.C.A.), refd to. [para. 10].

Montréal Dry Docks et al. v. Halifax Shipyards Ltd., [1920] 3 W.W.R. 25; 60 S.C.R. 359; 54 D.L.R. 185, refd to. [para. 13].

McBride v. SS. American and Darrell (1920), 20 S.C.R. 271; 61 D.L.R. 661, refd to. [para. 13].

Antares Shipping Corp. v. Ship Capricorn, Portland Shipping Co. and Delmar Shipping Ltd., [1980] 1 S.C.R. 553; 30 N.R. 104, refd to. [para. 13].

Statutes Noticed:

Federal Court Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-7, sect. 22 [paras. 1, 11]; sect. 22(1) [para. 14]; sect. 43 [para. 1]; sect. 43(2) [para. 14]; sect. 43(3) [para. 15]; sect. 43(8) [para. 14].

Federal Court Rules, rule 419 [paras. 1, 11].

Statute of Westminster, R.S.C. 1970 (App. III), No. 26, generally [para. 13].

Counsel:

John G. O'Connor, for the plaintiff;

Sean Harrington, for the defendant.

Solicitors of Record:

Langlois, Robert, Gaudreau, Québec, Québec, for the plaintiff;

McMaster Meighen, Montréal, Québec, for the defendant.

This application was heard at Ottawa, Ontario, on August 26, 1994, by Muldoon, J., of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, who delivered the following judgment on August 29, 1994.