In a loss to the airline’s flight insurer tragedy of ChapecoenseTokio Marine Kiln, the Justice of England decided that the case should be analyzed by the Court of the United States, where the sentences were stipulated at US$ 844 million (R$ 4.77 billion at the time).
The families who were victims of the tragedy claim that the insurer pays compensation for the accident, since the company is the holder of the insurance policy for the flight of the airline LaMia, which crashed in Colombia in 2016 while transporting the athletes who were going to compete in the final of the World Cup. South American.
As shown to Sheetin 2020 a Miami judge issued, for the first time, sentences against the company. Their combined value is R$ 4.8 billion.
The insurer then obtained an injunction in England to stop the action in the United States. The argument was that the case should remain under the jurisdiction of British Justice because the company’s headquarters were there.
The families’ defense, in turn, points out that the action should take place in Miami, Florida, since LaMia’s insurance policies were negotiated there with Tokio and with Aon, the brokerage.
On the 21st, the law firm accompanying the case was notified that the English court overturned the injunction. Thus, the action, which runs in Miami, can move forward again.
The decision is important because, in the United States, the value of the sentence against Tokio Marine has already been stipulated. It does not mean that there will be immediate payment of the amount, but it opens the door for the process to continue with an initial favorable opinion.
“This will also comfort the families, who are fearful about Chapecoense’s judicial recovery. They don’t believe in the current management and are worried about the continuation of court-supervised recovery“, says lawyer Marcel Camilo, who represents the families.
In May, the Sheet showed that, in the recovery process, the club asks for up to 85% discount on the payment of compensation to the victims.
The British court, on the other hand, ruled that the case against the flight’s reinsurer, Aon, should remain in England.
Sought, Tokio Marine did not comment. The report was unable to contact Aon.
As shown to Sheetdocuments registered in court in London also point out that Tokio Marine Kiln was not the only insurer on the flight🇧🇷 The names of 12 more companies appear precisely in the request headed by Tokio Marine, in England, for the process opened by the American Justice to be paralyzed.
Until then, it was known that the companies involved were Bisa (insurance of the flight), Aon (Broker) and Tokio Marine Kiln (reinsurer). The investigation in Brazil had indications of other companies in the case, but without names or number.
In the lawsuit in London, Tokio Marine Kiln lists another 12 corporations in the industry as “reinsurers and/or […] managing agents” of reinsurance.
In the insurance market, the same policy can be divided among competitors, with different percentages between them. The data is important because Bisa does not have the financial capacity to pay for the insurance. This, then, would be the responsibility of the reinsurers.
Case the families of victims and survivors win the lawsuit, these 13 companies would have to share the settlement of the policy. It is not yet clear what percentage of each is in LaMia’s reinsurance.
In parallel, there is a public civil action in Brazil that unites relatives of the dead and survivors. The accident was the subject of a CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) in the Federal Senate.
Due to the values, the strategy of the victims’ lawyers is not to try to receive from the owners of the LaMia or the aircraft. The actual targets are the companies Aon, Bisa e Tokio Marine Wedge.
By US law, when the company accused of irregularity is not assisted by the insurer, it becomes possible for the victims to sue those responsible for that policy.
