The High Court has withdrawn special leave to appeal in The Go Star v Daebo International Shipping Co Ltd. The appeal was against the decision of the Full Federal Court allowing an appeal in favour of Daebo International Shipping Co Ltd and awarding Daebo damages for breach of the sub-charter agreement with the ship The Go Star. After a series of overseas chartering and sub-chartering arrangements were compromised by the default of the head chartering company, Daebo was left with an unpaid invoice for ‘bunkers’ (fuel oil) loaded onto The Go Star. The FCAFC rejected Daebo’s conversion and detinue claims, but upheld Daebo’s claim against the owners of The Go Star for the tort of inducing a breach of contract (in relation to one of the sub-charter agreements with another company, Nanyuan). In so holding, the FCAFC applied Australian tort law.

The High Court revoked special leave on the basis that the appellant’s written and oral submissions did not show a sufficient prospect of proving the central ground on which special leave was granted (namely that the law of the People’s Republic of China should be applied to resolve the dispute).