Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NAVIGATION ACT 1912 - SECT 261

             (1)  Where loss of life or personal injuries are suffered by any person on board a ship owing to the fault of that ship and any other ship or ships, and a proportion of the damages is recovered against the owner of one of the ships which exceeds the proportion in which it was in fault, that person may recover by way of contribution the amount of the excess from the owners of the other ships to the extent to which those ships were respectively in fault:

Provided that no amount shall be so recovered which could not, by reason of any statutory or contractual limitation of, or exemption from, liability, or which could not for any other reason, have been recovered in the first instance as damages by the persons entitled to sue therefor.

             (2)  In addition to any other remedy provided by law, the persons entitled to any contribution as provided by subsection (1) shall, for the purposes of recovering the contribution, have, subject to the provisions of this Act, the same rights and powers as the persons entitled to sue for damages in the first instance.