Alcan Aluminum Ltd. v. Unican International S.A.

In this matter the Plaintiff had been awarded damages against the Defendant ship owner for breach of a time charter. The parties could, however, not agree on issues of interest and costs and the case was referred back to the Court . The Court held that the Plaintiff was only entitled to pre-judgment interest at the legal rate of 5%. The Plaintiff was not entitled to pre-judgment interest at the prevailing commercial rates since it led no evidence on the point. The Plaintiff was, however, allowed to rely on Provincial legislation with respect to post-judgment interest and, pursuant to the applicable Provincial legislation, the Plaintiff obtained more than the legal rate. On the question of costs, the Defendant argued that two offers to settle it made should be taken into account in its favour. The Court, however, agreed with the Plaintiff that the offers could not be taken into account because the first was not a firm offer of settlement but only an offer by counsel to "recommend" a settlement and, the second was conditional.