Maritime Law

Maritime Law is one of the key activities of the Law Firm of LEXLINE.

LEXLINE Partners Bertrand COURTOIS and Victoire REVENAZ focus primarily on disputes and litigation involving:

• Contracts of carriage by sea, affreightment or charter party;
• Initiating and proceeding with cargo recovery;
• Seaworthiness, safe port (or safe berth) and demurrage issues;
• Liability of classification societies;
• Shipbuilding contracts and/or sale of vessels;
• Arrests of seagoing ships, bunkers or cargo;
• Ship agency contracts;
• Major disasters (collisions, sinking, fires);
• Non-major disasters such as striking of a dock, marine pollution, accidents;
• General average cases;
• Salvage and claims for salvage remuneration thereof;
• Irregular or fraudulent deliveries of goods;
• Damages caused by containerized cargo;
• Luxury yacht sales agreement…

• The defense of hundreds of the victims of the “COSTA CONCORDIA” cruise ship disaster near the island of Giglio, Italy, on the night of January 13, 2012, involving the undertaking of protective or conservatory measures and extensive negotiations with the ship owner and its P&I Club regarding compensations for damages incurred by the victims, as well as monitoring the potential indictment of the ship owner, the captain and crew members by the Italian criminal
• The accountability, before the French courts, of French and English classification societies with regards to the defective construction of a merchant ship in an Asian shipyard, which resulted in losses of several million U.S. dollars for the owner on the one hand and to the total loss of a merchant ship with her valuable cargo on board on the other hand.
• A claim questioning the seaworthiness of a ship following a major port accident which caused significant loss to the owner of the cargo on board the ship, which had to be unloaded before being redirected to the recipient buyer.
• A liability action for compensation against a French shipping agent in Madagascar on behalf of a shipper who suffered a major financial loss due to fraudulent and irregular delivery of ten containers filled with electronic equipment from Asia.
• The defense of the interests of a freight forwarder for damages reaching several million euros, incurred by a shipper when a sling ruptured during a handling
• The defense of a ship owner's interests sued by a shipper and its insurer before the French courts, for the total loss of a cargo of sugar worth €5 million, which allegedly arose out of a carriage by sea. It was established that the cargo was affected by inherent vice and the maritime carrier was exonerated as a result.