OREANDA-NEWS. July 10, 2012. Arbitration Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region reviewed the case related to compensation for damages arising from the motor ship accident in the Kerch Strait and the related oil spill. Ingosstrakh Insurance Company was the shipowner's insurer and one of the defendants in this case.

Ingosstrakh Insurance Company along with the shipowner took steps to investigate the reasons for the event which happened on November 11, 2007. The company was actively cooperating with federal authorities, with victims, and with the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage. A significant number of victims, inconsistency in the procedures defining the extent of damage inflicted on each of them made it impossible to make payments before the final review of the case by the court.

Pursuant to effective legislation the shipowner has the right to limit his responsibility in relation to one incident by a total sum calculated depending on the burden of the ship. Ingosstrakh Insurance Company together with the shipowner filed a lawsuit on the Arbitration Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region and for the first time in the Russian judicial practice established a shipowner/insurer responsibility limitation fund in the amount of 116,636,700 rubles.

As a collateral for establishment of the fund Ingosstrakh Insurance Company back in 2008 issued collateral for guarantees, which dictated that the insurer is responsible to pay to each complainant who filed a lawsuit an amount in damages defined by a court on the ground of an effective judicial act. The uncompensated difference is to be paid by the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage.

Ingosstrakh Insurance Company has been actively cooperating with the representatives of the Fund in terms of damage compensation and arrangement of interaction with victims. All the issues related to payment of compensations after the acceptance of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company's guarantee by the court and the establishment of shipowner/insurer responsibility limitation fund were strictly within the competence of the Arbitration Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

On June, 19 2012 the court decided to partially satisfy the claims of victims to defendants in the amount of 437,883,650 rubles as compensation for damage and 62,293,702 rubles as interests in accordance with the norms of the Commercial Maritime Code of the Russian Federation. Claims to the shipowner and to Ingosstrakh Insurance Company were satisfied in the amount of 116,636,700 rubles.

Thus, the responsibility of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company to pay compensation amounts to victims on the ground of the issued guarantee will commence after the entry of court decision into legal force. Accordingly, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company will make all necessary payments in this insurance event in accordance with insurance terms. Ingosstrakh Insurance Company has taken and continues to take steps to handle this case in accordance with the international rules.