Welcome to our new readers and hello to our old! The longest day (or, for a few of you, shortest) has come and gone: below please find summaries of articles of interest published www.Forwarderlaw.com during June 2011:

Blurred Lines: The intermediarys role

An intermediarys roles as cargo owner, dispatcher, and controller of trucking operations produce huge accident liability. Just ask CH Robinson Worldwide, who caught the wrong end of a $23.7 million judgment or Steve Block, whose analysis of the case and law is available here:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=768

Shipping Fees Without an Agreement

While most people believe contracts must be in writing, in fact they need not be in writing to be enforceable, and frequently even long-term commercial agreements are not reduced to writing. When the parties disagree, the Courts will look at all the evidence to determine the nature of the agreement. Advocate Gill Nadel examines just such a case here:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=769

Latest Developments in Italian case-law on Ship Arrests

Recent years have seen quite a few decisions handed down by Italian Courts covering some of the most controversial and disputed areas of ship arrests. Forwarderlaws editor for Italy, Claudio Perella, provides a comprehensive review of these decisions and their bases, including under lien rights, the Brussels Convention, and Guarantees or LOUs. For his well-researched review, click here:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=771

Do I need Tail-end Risk Insurance?

In any given international transaction there are three separate contracts: the agreement of purchase and sale; the contract of carriage; and the contract of insurance. Is there a benefit to the purchaser of tail-end coverage in cases where the cargo insurance will cover loss only to port of destination? Frazer Hunt of Piper Alderman (Australia) has the story:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=770

Two Maritime Law Queries

What constitutes discharge and delivery when considering the time for giving notice of a claim? Is a freight forwarder an agent in its relationships with ocean carriers and shippers? U.S. Editor Steve Block tackles these perennial questions through the lens of a 2011 case handed down in the District of Maryland:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=773

The Court Decides the Accounting

Even long and apparently happy and prosperous business relationships break down. Such was the case in Electra Consumer Products Ltd. v. Mentfield (1983) Ltd, where both shipper and forwarder claimed a range of charges, damages, and interest following the break-down of a multi-year relationship. As is often the case, while the business was proceeding discrepancies and irregularities in accounting were allowed to pile up; on break-up, it was up to the Courts to sort out the parties obligations. Gill Nadel reviews the case here:
http://www.forwarderlaw.com/library/view.php?article_id=772

General

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