Spanish Fishermen Given OK To Sue British Government

Spanish fishermen who say they were unlawfully barred from British waters won permission from Britain's highest court last week to sue the government in a claim which could top $160 million. The House of Lords upheld a 1998 Court of Appeal ruling that a group of nearly 100 owners and managers of Spanish vessels were entitled to sue over the government's moves to prevent them "quota hopping". The practice involves foreign companies, individuals and organizations buying or acquiring control of British fishing interests, thereby gaining control over their quotas. Five Law Lords held that the British government's actions had breached its European Union obligations so seriously that the Spanish could take it to court. Last year's landmark Court of Appeal ruling that the fishermen could sue followed a decision by the European Court of Justice that Britain's 1988 Merchant Shipping Act had unlawfully prevented them from quota hopping. The European court's ruling made the British act essentially ineffective in November 1989. The Spanish fishermen who were banned from waters off the British coast on the basis of the act have estimated their losses at around $120 million. Lawyers say legal costs could push the total above $160 million. "The United Kingdom's breach of its Community obligations... was a sufficiently serious breach so as to entitle the respondents to compensation for damage directly caused by that breach," Lord Slynn said. Lord Hoffman said there was no doubt that in discriminating against non-British European Union nationals on the grounds of their nationality, the government was "flouting one of the most basic principles of Community law."