The maritime carrier and the ship are discharged from all liability in respect of the goods unless suit is brought within one year

A trader imported to Israel corn from the Ukraine by ship and insured the goods with maritime insurance. The goods were damaged by a fire that broke in the ship and the insurance company paid part of the damage to the trader and filed a suit for such amount against the ship. The trader also filed a suit against the ship but erroneously did this with a sister company and thus, after more than a year passed, changed the suit so that the claimant will be the correct company.
The Supreme Court ordered the suit to be removed due to the application of the Hague–Visby Rules that discharge both the maritime carrier and the ship from all liability in respect of the goods unless suit is brought within one year. The Hague convention of 1924 was amended by the Brussels protocol of 1968 (the Visby Protocol) that lead to the rules known as “the Hague–Visby Rules”. Israeli law adopted such Rules. Under the Rule, the maritime carrier and the ship are in any event discharged from all liability whatsoever in respect of the goods, unless suit is brought within one year of their delivery or of the date when they should have been delivered, all unless it is otherwise agreed between the parties after the cause of action has arisen. This is an exemption and not a rules of legal procedure and thus it is not sufficient that the insurance company or a third part filed a suit.