The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upended the case to recover 32+ mln dollars worth of reinsurance payout in connection with 2012 crash of Sukhoi Superjet in Indonesia

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upended the case to recover 32+ mln dollars worth of reinsurance payout in connection with 2012 crash of Sukhoi Superjet in Indonesia

The dispute arose in connection with the refusal by thirty foreign reinsurers, some of them members of Lloyd's, to pay out a reinsurance claim from the Russian insurance company Capital Insurance for the loss of the aircraft.

The total amount of reinsurance money sought originally was over 32 mln US dollars; some time into the litigation, however, a number of reinsurers paid up as required under their contracts, and the amount of the claim was nearly halved by the plaintiff. 

Apart from issues of law, the trial was dragged out by complicated notification to the multitude of defendants in the case domiciled in various foreign jurisdictions (Great Britain, India, Nepal, Bermuda etc.), rejection of the jurisdiction of the Russian court by counsel for the defendants, as well as by the complexity of applicable law issues.

Finally, after nearly three years of arbitration, Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by a decision made as of 23 September 2016 upended the case on the territory of the Russian Federation. Thus, the claims of KIAP's Principal have been granted in full. In case of failure to perform the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by the defendant on a voluntary basis the plaintiff will initiate legal proceedings for the enforcement of this decision on the territory of foreign states.

Capital Insurance's case was argued by the Firm's partners Dmitry Shnaydman, Konstantin Astafiev and Ilya Ischuk, assisted by senior associate Georgy Karaoglanov.