MOSCOW, November 13 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld lower courts’ rulings to dismiss a lawsuit lodged by six foreign insurers seeking to collect over $4 million from Kapital Strakhovaniye insurance company in connection with the Superjet 100 aicraft crash in Indonesia in May 2012, according to court records.

The court therefore refused to review issued judicial acts.

On November 25, 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by QBE Corporate, Starr Syndicate, Starr Insurance and Reinsurance, Muenchener Rueckversicherungrs-Gesellchaft AG, Dornoch and Catlin Insurance Company against Kapital Strakhovaniye insurance company. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals and The Moscow District Commercial Court have upheld the ruling. The case was heard for the second time. On February 29, 2016, the Supreme Court overruled all lower courts and sent the case for rehearing.

The airplane crashed on its first ever demonstration tour, across six Asian countries, over Indonesia on May 9, 2012. All people on board the plane, including eight Russian nationals, were killed. The plane crashed into Mount Salak at an altitude of 1.6 km. Investigation found that the disaster was caused by human error.

The plane was insured by Kapital Strakhovaniye, which later reinsured its risks by 95% in the Western market. Over 20 insurance companies including applicants have acted as reinsurers.

The plaintiffs transferred $3.5 million to the Russian insurer for paying compensations to the relatives of dead passengers. Later, they found that the crash was not an insurable event as it had occurred during a flight demonstration, while the insurance had been extended only to test flights. The companies have filed lawsuits to court demanding to return the paid funds with interest.

However, Russia’s courts ruled that the flight was experimental.