I. Deveau Fisheries Ltd. v. Cummins Americas, Inc.

In Admiralty Practice, Parties on (Updated )

This case concerned a claim by the Plaintiff against the Defendant for negligent repair of a ship’s engine. The Defendant in turn commenced Third Party proceedings against a sub-contractor for contribution and indemnity in respect of work done by the sub-contractor to the cylinder heads of the engine. The sub-contractor brought a motion to strike the Third Party action on the grounds that it was not within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. The sub-contractor argued that all of the work that it did was done in its own shop. It did not do any work to the ship or on the ship. The Court, however, held the work done was necessary to enable the ship to carry out its operations and was therefore governed by maritime law and within the admiralty jurisdiction of the Court.