THE TITANIC CLAIMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1981, 11 February 1914, Page 7

THE TITANIC CLAIMS.

. —9 —. RESERVED POINT OF LAW. COURT OF APPEAL JUDGMENT By Te!«rraph—Press Association—CoiKfrisM (Rec. February 10, 8.20 p.m.) London, February 10. In connection with tho actions for damages brought by relatives of some of those who lost their lives in the Titanic disaster, tho King's Bench Division of the High. Court of Justice in •luno last ruled against tlis Oceanic Company on a reserved point of law: AVhether the company could be ahsolved from liability by a condition attached to the back of' a passenger's ticket nullifying the contract printed on tho frout of tho ticket ensuring to passengers compensa- • tion, through negligence by the company's servants. The Court of Appeal has now upheld this judgment. Shipping Companies trading in K«w Zealand waters under tho Shipping and Seamen Act art) liable, where such liability is proved, for loss of life up to .£8 per toil. In other words, if 500 passengers lost their live;! on a ship of 1000 tons, and claims were made and upheld by the survivors, the company would be liable to the extent'of iKOOtt. AM tho same, the shiping companies, on their tickets,' the conditions of which the passenger has to sign and agree tfe disclaim responsibility: and liability for the persons of the passengers for tho consequences of "the act of Ciod, perils and accidents of tho seas or rivers or machinery, boilers, or steam navigation, or other accidents, whether of a like nature at otherwise, or of default or error of judgment or negligence of pilot, master, mariners, engineers, stevedores, servants, or others employed by 1 the company, whether in the navigation .or management of the steamer or otherwise. . . i"