Decision ID: 001613

In March 2005 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that at a hearing in December 2004 the Schlweswig-Holstein Appeal Court had indicated that on the basis of the evidence submitted, it was far from convinced that the Kuzbass was the source of the pollution, drawing attention to other potential ship sources that the German authorities had failed to investigate, and had stated that the prospects of the shipowner/insurer succeeding in the appeal were significantly better than those of the German Government. The Committee noted that the Court had strongly recommended that the parties reached an out-of-court settlement to the effect that the shipowner/insurer would pay the German Government £85,000 and that the recoverable costs would be shared between the German Government and the shipowner/insurer on a 92%-8% basis, which appeared to imply that the 1992 Fund should pay the balance of the admissible amount of the German Government’s claim. It was noted, however, that the Court had granted the parties the possibility of submitting further briefs and presenting witnesses.