Kotai v. Queen of the North (Ship)

This was another application arising out of the sinking of the Queen of the North on 21 March 2006. This was an application by the ship owner for various relief including striking the jury notice. The ship owner argued, among other things, that the case was not appropriate for determination by a jury because the principal question in the action would be the construction of Article 13 of the Athens Convention relating to limitation of liability. The Court, however, noted that there is heavy burden to displace the plaintiff’s right to have a trial by jury and held any issues of construction could be separated from issues of fact.