The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the defendant for liability arising from a collision between his vessel and that of the defendant. The Judge of the Commercial Court No 1 of Almería dismissed the lawsuit on the basis of lack of passive standing (ie the defendant was incorrectly identified) and prescription.

The plaintiff appealed to the Provincial Court.

Held: Appeal dismissed.

It is clear from the evidence that Ms Felicisima is not the owner of the vessel, but Ms Frida is. The appellant says only that the two are mother and daughter, which adds nothing to resolving the legal issue as to who is liable for the collision according to art 145 of the Law of Maritime Navigation (the LNM).

As to prescription, the appellant points out that the limitation period in this case is not that of art 1968 of the Civil Code, but the two-year period of art 953 of the Commercial Code. This provision is repealed by the LNM, and there are no problems with the application of this Law. Article 339 of the LNM establishes a limitation period of two years from the occurrence of the accident. This is based on art 7 of the Collision Convention 1910. However, the claim was brought in 2019, although the accident occurred in July 2015. Therefore, the action would be time-barred under the Convention.

The first instance Judge, however, understood that this rule was not applicable when all the interested parties belonged to the same State, in which case domestic law is used (art 12 of the Convention). But it happens that domestic law has not established any special rules, but rather has 'nationalised' international law. In other words, for the sake of art 339 of the LNM, international law is also national law, so it was not required of Spanish law to establish a specific term, if its intention is to refer to Convention law.

However, the appellant considers that prescription was interrupted by the presentation of some preliminary proceedings and extrajudicial requests. This is not so. An interrupting act of prescription requires not only an action on the part of the creditor, but also that its realisation comes to the attention of the debtor. This did not occur on the facts.