Decision ID: 001305

3.In May 2002 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee and the 1971 Fund Administrative Council, in private sessions pursuant to Rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure at which only the representatives of the Member States of the 1992 Fund and 1971 Fund were present, approved a proposed global settlement whereby the compensation payments would be shared between the shipowner’s insurer and the IOPC Funds on a 42:58 basis in respect of all settled claims (as a result of which the insurer would pay the 20% balance due to all claimants and reimburse the Funds approximately £26.7 million), joint costs would be shared on a 42:58 basis, all legal actions arising from the incident would cease and all parties would each bear their own legal costs. In authorising the Director to conclude such an agreement with the other parties the Committee and the Council emphasised that the acceptance of the proposed settlement should not be interpreted to mean that the IOPC Funds had any doubts as to the strength of their position in the proceedings. The 1992 Fund Executive Committee and the 1971 Fund Administrative Council further decided that the IOPC Funds should withdraw their actions against the Russian Register of Shipping, but stated that the acceptance of the proposed settlement and the withdrawal of the action against the Russian Register should not be interpreted in any way as a change in the IOPC Funds’ policy in respect of recourse actions, namely that the Funds should take recourse action whenever appropriate to recover any amounts paid by them from shipowners or other parties on the basis of the applicable national law.

Date: 31.03.2002
Category: Legal actions
Subject: Direct action against insurers