MOSCOW, May 19 (RAPSI) – Several foreign insurers have again filed an appeal with the Russian Supreme Court seeking to reconsider a ruling ordering them to pay over $16 million to Kapital Strakhovaniye insurance company in connection with the Superjet 100 aicraft crash in Indonesia in May 2012, according to court records.

The Commercial Court of the Khanty-Mansi region in April 2015 granted a lawsuit filed by Russia’s Kapital Strakhovaniye against foreign insurance companies. The Eighth Commercial Court of Appeals and the West-Siberian District Federal Commercial Court upheld the ruling in July 2015 and March 2016 respectively.

In September 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the insurers’ petition for reconsideration of the lower court’s rulings. The court found no grounds for review of the appealed judicial acts under cassational procedure.

However, the insurance turned to commercial court seeking to rehear the case under the new circumstances. They believed that the matter should be considered by the Moscow Regional Commercial Court.

In July 2019, the Commercial Court of the Khanty-Mansi region dismissed the application.

Twenty-four companies were initially defendants in the case. However, due to partial payment of the debt, the plaintiff withdrew claims against some of them.

Kapital Strakhovaniye initially claimed $32.4 million in damages from the companies that provided insurance for 48 people on board. The sum was reduced to $16 million after partial payments were made.

General Insurance Corporation of India, Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A., UK Branch, Swiss Re Europe S.A., Starr Insurance and Reinsurance Limited (London) are named among defendants in the case. The lawsuit was filed back in June 2013.

The Moscow Commercial Court also heard another plane crash related suit. Sukhoi Company demanded $29.5 million in insurance payouts for the SSJ-100 from Kapital Strakhovaniye. In September 2013, the parties signed an amicable agreement under which the underwriter committed to pay the plaintiff $14.1 million in addition to the previous payments. The insurance company claimed that the insurance agreement on the plane was 95% reinsured in the Western market.

The plane 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. The investigation found that the disaster was caused by human error.

The airplane was insured by Kapital Strakhovaniye, which later reinsured 95% of its risks on the foreign market. The plaintiffs – QBE Corporate, Starr Syndicate, Starr Insurance and Reinsurance, Muenchener Rueckversicherungrs-Gesellchaft AG, Dornoch and Catlin Insurance Company (UK) – reinsured the risks in line with Lloyd's of London terms.