We Reversed a Dismissed Claim and Secured €56,000 in Damages in a Complex International Shipping Dispute
The Situation
A Spanish manufacturer of high-value industrial machinery suffered significant losses after a shipment to the United States was rejected by U.S. authorities due to the presence of live insects in the wooden packaging used for maritime transport. The entire cargo, valued at nearly €1 million, was forced to return to Europe, causing substantial logistical, operational, and financial damage.
The Challenge
At first instance, the claim was fully dismissed, with the court finding no proven causal link between the defective packaging and the damage suffered.
On appeal, the client faced several major hurdles:
Highly technical phytosanitary and entomological issues
Conflicting expert reports on the origin of the infestation
A factual dispute over causation across multiple stages of international transport
The need to overturn a judgment that had already rejected liability entirely
Success required reconstructing the scientific and factual chain of events and persuading the appellate court to reassess the evidence from the ground up.
The Solution
We developed an appellate strategy centered on causation, expert evidence, and regulatory compliance:
Demonstrated that only one specific container (flat-rack) was inspected and found contaminated
Proved that the wooden packaging supplied and treated by the defendant was the exclusive source of the infestation
Relied on specialist entomological evidence to rule out contamination during transport or at destination
Exposed deficiencies in the application of mandatory NIMF-15 phytosanitary treatment
Connected regulatory breaches to a direct contractual non-conformity under applicable civil law
Our approach reframed the case from a generic transport incident into a defective service and compliance failure.
The Result
The Barcelona Provincial Court partially upheld the appeal, overturned the first-instance ruling, and:
Found the defendant liable for defective phytosanitary treatment
Recognized a direct causal link between the breach and the rejected shipment
Awarded €56,268.03 in damages, plus legal interest
Ordered no costs in either instance due to the case’s complexity
The client recovered a substantial portion of its losses and obtained judicial confirmation of responsibility in a highly technical dispute.
