UK court decides aircraft disputes to be heard in Ukraine, not London (updated)

Chubb

06/06/2024 15:43

(Adds details, background in paragraphs 4-6)
       LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - A legal battle between
insurers and aircraft leasing companies over jets stuck in
Ukraine should be heard in Ukraine rather than London, the High
Court in London ruled on Thursday.
    Aircraft lessors, including Ireland's AerCap  AER.N , are
pursuing insurers after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine left
aircraft stranded in Ukraine.
    Judge Andrew Henshaw, in a decision relating to six separate
lawsuits, ruled that the cases in London should be put on hold
because of "exclusive jurisdiction clauses" requiring disputes
to be heard in Ukraine.
    The claimants had argued that the cases should be heard in
London, in part because the ongoing war in Ukraine makes it very
difficult to fairly conduct litigation there.
        Henshaw, however, said in his ruling that "the evidence
about the effect of the war on the court system ... does not
indicate that the war is likely to result in substantial delays
or other problems in litigating these claims effectively in the
courts of Ukraine".
  
        In March, the High Court 
    ruled
     that a separate $10 billion battle over more than 200 jets
stuck in Russia should be heard in London rather than Moscow.
  

 (Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by William James)
 ((Sam.Tobin@thomsonreuters.com;))