In re Arbitration Between Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd.


3 K.B. 560 (1921).

Defendant’s stevedores, while unloading a ship, negligently knocked a wooden plank into the ship’s hold.  A spark struck by the falling plank ignited flammable fumes in the hold, causing the ship’s destruction in the ensuing explosion and fire.

The nature and extent of the damage that is reasonably foreseeable from a falling plank would include some damage to the ship’s structure, smashed cargo, and injured crew members, but not an explosion, fire, and total loss.  Notwithstanding, even though the kind and extent of damages were not foreseeable, the court held Defendant liable because the damages followed directly and immediately from Defendant’s negligence.

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