Two dozen foreign insurance companies have become defendants in a $32 million court case over damages relating to a Russian Sukhoi SuperJet 100 passenger jet that crashed in Indonesia last year.
The arbitration court of the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous region has accepted a case filed by Kapital Strakhovaniye, a part of Rosgosstrakh, the nation's leading insurer, against 24 insurance companies, Vedomosti reported Monday, citing the court.
Among the defendants are such leading global players as Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance, Chartis Europe, a subsidiary of AIG, Italy's Assicurazioni Generali, Spain's Mapfre Global Risks and Nepal's Oriental Insurance Company.
Kapital Strakhovaniye is claiming $32.4 million in damages from the companies that provided insurance to the 48 people on board — which include citizens of five countries and 8 employees of the aircraft's manufacturer, Sukhoi.
The SuperJet plane crashed in May last year during a demonstration flight which took off from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. The flight was part of a tour around Asia designed to drum up business for the new plane and support the struggling Russian civilian aviation sector. According to investigators, the crash was caused by human error — mistakes made by both the pilot and ground control.
Kapital Strakhovaniye is itself a defendant in another damages case, filed against it by Sukhoi, which wants the insurer to pay $29.5 million. That case will be heard in the Moscow city arbitration court in July.
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