indemnification can be claimed from the peregrinus, need not produce evidence under oath which if accepted would establish the defendant's
liability to the plaintiff. To the extent that such liability is an element of the defendant's claim against the third party it is
sufficient for the defendant to rely on the allegations contained in the plaintiff's particulars of claim. To rebut this element
of the defendant's claim the peregrinus would have to show that the plaintiff's particulars of claim are either excipiable or otherwise
clearly without substance. As far as the other element of the defendant's claim against the peregrine third party is concerned, viz
that the third party is liable to the plaintiff, the defendant would remain obliged in the ordinary way to produce evidence which,
if accepted, would establish such liability.
Returning to the present case, evidence was adduced which, if
26 accepted, would establish that Bouygues has claims in delict against Caspian and
Ultisol. As far as Portnet's potential liability to Bouygues is concerned, the
particulars of claim filed on behalf of the latter contain detailed allegations of
negligence as well as averments of fact in support of those allegations. It was not
suggested that the claim was in any way excipiable or without substance. The first
ground of attack on the granting of the attachment order must therefore fail.
The second is that the value of the Tigr was such that her attachment provided no security at all for Portnet's claim and accordingly
the attachment could not serve to confirm the Court's jurisdiction over Caspian.
The basis for this contention is the following. Because the value of the Tigr is substantially less than the quantum of Bouygues'
claim, the security provided by the Tigr would be exhausted by the execution of a judgment in Bouygues' favour in the event of it
being successful in its action against Caspian
27 in case AC 10/95, and because Portnet's claim against Bouygues in case AC .
102/95 is predicated upon Caspian's liability to Bouygues, it followed that there
would be no security left against which Portnet would be able to execute. There
is no substance in the point. Reliance was placed by counsel for Caspian on
Thermo Radiant Oven Sales (Pty)Ltd v Nelspruit Bakeries (Pty) Ltd 1969 (2) SA
295 (A). The case is no authority for the proposition for which it was cited.
There the plaintiff sought to attach a monetary claim which the defendant
allegedly had against the plaintiff arising out of the same transaction as that on
which the plaintiff based its claim. The success of the plaintiff's claim necessarily
involved the negation of the defendant's claim so that in the event of the plaintiff
succeeding no debt to the defendant would have been in existence at the time the
attachment was sought. It was accordingly held that the attachment order ought
not to have been granted. In the present case the value of the Tigr was in the
28 region of US $1,5 million when the attachment order was granted and served. It
is at that stage that the property must have some value. The fact that it may
thereafter become valueless will not affect the court's jurisdiction once founded
or confirmed by the attachment. (See the Thermo Radiant case supra at 301 E -
F; 310 D - F.) In any event, the circumstances in which and the party at whose
instance the security will be exhausted is dependent on a number of factors which
are unknown at this stage. It follows that on this ground too the appeal must fail.
I turn to Ultisol's appeal. The argument advanced on its behalf is
shortly the following. As a consequence of the decision of Clarke J on 2 February
1996 interdicting Bouygues from proceeding against Ultisol in South Africa the
latter's liability to the former was to be determined in England. Accordingly, so
the argument went, whether Ultisol was a joint wrongdoer with Portnet in relation
to the damage suffered by Bouygues or not was not an issue which could be
29
decided by a South African court because, although Ultisol was sought to be
joined by Portnet and not Bouygues, the issue necessarily involved determining
whether Ultisol was jointly and severally liable to Bouygues and, by reason of
Clarke J's judgment, that was something which a South African court could not
do. There is, I think, a short answer. The proposition advanced by counsel is
founded on the premise that an injunction by an English court prohibiting
Bouygues from proceeding against Ultisol in South Africa has the effect of
depriving a South African court of its undoubted jurisdiction to determine at the
instance of Portnet whether Ultisol is a joint wrongdoer in relation to the damage
suffered by Bouygues. That premise in my view is clearly unsound and the
argument must fail.
It follows from the aforegoing that Portnet was entitled as of right to an attachment order and that following the attachment of the
Tigr and her bunkers
30 it became entitled to join Caspian and Ultisol as third parties in the action (AC
102/95). In this context therefore the Court a quo correctly held that the question
of the exercise of a discretion did not arise. As to that Court's decision to refuse
to postpone or stay the application, which did involve the exercise of a discretion,
counsel for Ultisol conceded that the decision was not appealable. The concession
was correctly made (cf Zweni v Minister of Law and Order 1993 (1) SA 523 (A)).
It follows that considerations relating to the procedural dislocation flowing from
the parallel proceedings in England and South Africa are irrelevant to the
determination of this appeal.
The appeals of both first appellant (Caspian) and second appellant (Ultisol) are dismissed with costs including the costs of two counsel.
It is recorded that the intervening parties (Bouygues and the underwriters of the Bos 400) have abandoned the costs order made in
their favour
31
by the Court a quo .
,
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