LONDON (Reuters) – A legal battle between insurers and aircraft leasing companies over planes stranded in Ukraine should take place in Ukraine and not London, London's High Court ruled on Thursday.
Aircraft lessors, including Ireland's AerCap, are chasing insurers after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine left planes stranded in Ukraine.
Judge Andrew Henshaw, in a decision relating to six separate claims, ruled that cases in London should be stayed because of “exclusive jurisdiction clauses” requiring disputes to be heard in Ukraine.
The plaintiffs had argued that the cases should be heard in London, in part because the ongoing war in Ukraine makes it very difficult to conduct litigation fairly there.
Henshaw, however, said in his ruling that “the evidence regarding the effect of the war on the judicial system…does not indicate that the war is likely to result in substantial delays or other problems in the effective litigation of these claims in the courts of Ukraine”.
In March, the High Court ruled that a separate $10 billion battle over more than 200 planes stuck in Russia should be heard in London rather than Moscow.
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