Recent developments in the Prestige incident – December 2018 Judgment

On 20 December 2018, the Supreme Court in Spain delivered its final judgment on the quantification of the losses resulting from the Prestige incident, ordering that the Spanish State, French State and other claimants be paid some €1.6 billion in compensation.

The judgment confirms that the 1992 Fund is liable for damages resulting from the spill, up to the maximum amount established under the 1992 Fund Convention. The Court also partially accepted the Fund’s appeal in that moral and environmental damages are not recoverable from the 1992 Fund.

The judgment confirms the Supreme Court’s previous decision that the shipowner’s insurer, the London P&I Club, is liable for all the damages caused by the incident, including moral and environmental damages, up to the limit of its policy of US$1 000 million.

The 1992 Fund is examining this latest judgment, which will be discussed at the April 2019 session of the 1992 Fund Executive Committee.

The judgment in its original version (Spanish), is available under the Incidents section of the website.