Practice – Civil litigation. The case concerned a collision action between two vessels, where the claimant, the owner of one vessel, brought proceedings against the defendant, the owner of the other vessel. The Admiralty Court allowed the defendant's application to strike out the claimant's claim and the defendant's counterclaim in circumstances where there had been an extraordinary and culpable delay of seven years in the proceedings which resulted in prejudice against the defendant and no possibility of a fair trial.