London’s High Court has decided that the $10 billion battle between reinsurers and a host of aircraft leasing companies seeking payouts for more than 200 jets stuck in Russia should be heard in London rather than Moscow, as per a new report from Reuters.
If you remember, back in July of 2023, over 40 aviation leasing firms, including AerCap, Aircastle, Avenue Capital, Carlyle Aviation Partners, FTAI Aviation and Merx Aviation, urged the High Court to allow the reinsurance dispute to be heard in London in hopes of avoiding the risk of unfair hearings or inconsistent judgments. However, some major reinsurers, and several Lloyd’s of London syndicates, wanted the claims heard in Russia, arguing that the policies stipulate a dispute should be heard in Moscow.
According to Reuters, not all reinsurers agreed, with around 35 accepting the jurisdiction of the English courts in the dispute, including Swiss Re and Chubb.
Now, Judge Andrew Henshaw has stated in a written ruling that “the claimants are very unlikely to obtain a fair trial in Russia” and has thus ruled in favour of the aviation lessors and dismissed the jurisdiction challenges from the remaining contesting reinsurers.
A spokesperson from Carlyle Aviation Partners commented, “We welcome today’s ruling which exposes the tactics of a faction of international insurers who are in breach of their contractual obligations.
“Without further delay, we intend to vigorously pursue our claims against all insurers who have failed to provide coverage for losses in the courts of London, as is the right and proper jurisdiction.”
In related news, the aforementioned leasing firm AerCap recently announced it has collected over $600 million of insurance settlements in Q4 of 2023, bringing its total collected to $1.3 billion in the year.
