Howard Marine v Ogden [1978] QB 574

The claimant, Ogden, hired two dredging barges from the defendant, Howard Marine (HM), for £1,800 per week to carry out certain excavation works for Northumbrian Water Authority. In order to make an accurate estimate for tender of the work to be completed, Ogden asked HM the capacity of the barge. HM checked Lloyds Register and stated 850 cubic metres. In fact the entry in Lloyds register was wrong. The capacity was in fact much lower. Consequently the work carried out by Ogden took much longer and cost a great deal more to perform. The claimant brought an action for negligent misrepresentation. HM argued that they had reasonable grounds for believing the statement to be true as they had checked Lloyds register.

Held:

The defendant had not discharged the burden of proof by demonstrating they had reasonable grounds for believing it to be true as they had the registration document which contained the correct capacity and there was no reason why they would have chosen Lloyds register over the registration document.

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