By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
ATTORNEYS representing Diplomat Aviation (Bahamas) Ltd, the company under which the ill-fated Learjet 36 carrying Bahamas Faith Ministries pastor Dr Myles Munroe was registered, are embroiled in a court battle with a US-based insurance company over the payout from a $10m liability policy in the aftermath of the November 9 tragedy.
The plaintiff, XL Specialty Insurance Company, has insisted that it is under no obligation to honour the policy because it expired on November 5, four days before the crash, and was not renewed. Diplomat Aviation is listed as the defendant in the matter.
According to court documents obtained by The Tribune, Diplomat Aviation’s law firm Gary, Williams, Parenti & Watson, sent a letter to XL on December 5 requesting the company honour the terms of the policy. The law firm operates from Stuart, Florida.
The policy was effective from November 5, 2012, to November 5, 2013, the documents said. It was renewed for the period November 5, 2013 to November 5, 2014, with liability coverage of $10m per occurrence for the aircraft.
According to the policy, there are liability settlement limits for $100,000 for each non-crew member passenger and each crew member.
“In connection with our representation, we have been advised that XL Specialty Insurance Company issued a XL Pinnacle Aviation Hull and Liability policy of insurance to Diplomat Aviation (Bahamas) Limited LLC effective 12.01 am, November 5, 2014,” a letter sent to XL by lawyers representing the defendant noted.
“We understand that XL agreed to provide coverage under the policy unless it provided written notice of cancellation or non-renewal of the policy consistent with the requirements of the policy.
“Further we understand that if XL intended to renew the policy, XL would provide written notice of renewal terms and a statement of the premium whether actual or estimated, not less than 30 days prior to policy expiration.
“Our client received no notices falling within the requirements of the policy, which would initiate cancellation or non-renewal of the policy before November 9, 2014,” the letter from Diplomat Aviation’s lawyers added.
In its declaration to a District Court in the South Carolina Division, XL Specialty argued that “after receiving proper notice,” Diplomat Aviation did not renew the policy.
The company is asking the courts to rule that no insurance policy was in effect at the time of the crash that killed all nine on board.
“As such any coverage provided by the policy ended on November 5, 2014,” the court papers said. “The aviation crash occurred on November 9, 2014.
“XL now seeks a declaratory judgment that no policy was in effect for the date of loss, November 9, 2014. As such no coverage exists after November 5,” the company said in court documents.
“XL Specialty prays that this honourable court issue an order declaring that it is under no obligation or duty to defend and/or indemnify Diplomat Aviation under the policy in any manner regarding the November 9, 2014 incident, claims, future lawsuits, or any judgment arising therefrom and for such other and further relief as this court deem just and appropriate.”
According to the court papers, XL Specialty Insurance Company is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Connecticut.
Robert H Hood Jr and James Andrew Bradshaw represent the plaintiff.
Diplomat Aviation, the defendant, has a location in Lexington County, South Carolina, the court papers said. The documents were filed on December 11 in Charleston, South Carolina.
The aviation disaster claimed the lives of Dr Munroe, 60, his wife Ruth, along with BFMI vice-president Dr Richard Pinder, newly ordained youth pastors Lavard “Manifest” Parks, his pregnant wife Radel, their five-year-old son Johanan, pilot Captain Stanley Thurston and co-pilot, First Officer Frahkan Cooper. An American citizen, Diego DeSantiago, was also on board.
They were all killed immediately when the aircraft truck a towering crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard and crashed into a junk pile.
According to initial reports from the Department of Civil Aviation, the plane left Nassau shortly after 4pm and crashed around 5.10pm on its approach to Grand Bahama in deteriorating weather conditions.
The group was flying into Grand Bahama from New Providence for an annual leadership conference organised by Dr Munroe.
Comments
duppyVAT 9 years, 4 months ago
And imagine the thousands of vehicles, homes and boats in this country that are uninsured as well ..... its endemic
banker 9 years, 4 months ago
The hand of God working again -- no insurance.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
The media could have had this information from the start because it is a matter of public record, but I suppose that means the media would have had to do the work of the media...
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
Aircraft insurance is VERY specific...unlike some homeowners or car insurance policies where they will auto-renew in most cases, if you don't specifically say YES PLEASE RENEW to aircraft insurance, that's it...it is not renewed. Very strict guidelines when it comes to aircraft insurance...and this scenario here is probably why.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Correct.
dfitzerl 9 years, 4 months ago
“We understand that XL agreed to provide coverage under the policy unless it provided written notice of cancellation or non-renewal of the policy consistent with the requirements of the policy.
“Further we understand that if XL intended to renew the policy, XL would provide written notice of renewal terms and a statement of the premium whether actual or estimated, not less than 30 days prior to policy expiration.
“Our client received no notices falling within the requirements of the policy, which would initiate cancellation or non-renewal of the policy before November 9, 2014,” the letter from Diplomat Aviation’s lawyers added.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
The so-called editorial license that the Tribune and other media houses take in this country never ceases to amaze. In order for this headline not to be biased or libelous, the Tribune should have put in the headline the person or entity that claims the plane was uninsured, since right now the insurance status is in legal dispute. For example, headline should read 'Insurance Company: Munroe Plane "Was Uninsured"' or a variation of the same. To only run the headline 'Plane "was uninsured"' without also stating in the headline who is making the claim gives the appearance to readers that the Tribune itself is making this determination as a statement of fact, or siding with the same.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Comrades most flights leaving Nassau for Freeport land with happy endings. This doomed flight is not one of them. As for the plane actually being declared "uninsured" this is not a clear-cut case for the insurance company to obtain the favourable decision they seek from the courts. I see nothing so far to indicate that Dr. Myles was not either in a position to not afford the insurance premiums or had not expressed intentions to renew. Insurance companies are quick accept your premiums but slow on paying out your claims. This being not only a “constructive total loss” of the plane but the untimely ending of 9 lives and structural damages private property. It can get costly.
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
How much money is the church in debt? Wasn't it an $8M dollar figure I saw being thrown around?
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
A tabloid claimed it was $3M, but there is no confirmation of the veracity
BoopaDoop 9 years, 4 months ago
It was stated previously that the Myles Munroe Int'l Ministry was financially successful but Bahamas Faith Ministries was a financial drain.
dfitzerl 9 years, 4 months ago
BFMI and MMI are two seperate entities. I would not assume that because BFMI may be in debt that MMI is also.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Whether he could afford to pay or not is not the issue before the courts. And the insurance company claims that renewal was not requested and/or initiated, which is generally an industry standard requirement for airplane insurance; so not sure why you believe he did what the insurance company claims he did not do. If he had initiated the renewal process, surely his attorneys would have presented evidence of that as part of their case.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Comrade, it is not the insurance industries standard policy to automatically cancel a policy on the day of its stated termination.date.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Airplane insurance typically does not automatically renew. I said nothing about "policy" as in regulatory policy. I said it is a standard feature of such insurances, and it is.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
The court rulings saying, it ain't so.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
There is no court ruling in this matter yet.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Judge Cote will giver her ruling pretty quickly. She is known as no nonsense having delivered verdict in number major cases.
ObserverOfChaos 9 years, 4 months ago
Just one more example of short cutting taken by people, companies etc that think they don't have to pay dues/fees on time....the short of it is that the families who lost relatives will not be seeing any monies due to the incompetence of the airline company....but that's typical for Bahamas.....
CatIslandBoy 9 years, 4 months ago
@Publius. I must agree with you that the standard of journalism in both of our daily newspapers does leave a lot to be desired. It seems as though little investigative work is done by the younger journalists, and many leading stories are always incomplete. Not only is the headline in this particular story slightly misleading, but the story itself seems to have come about solely from court filings. No attempt is reported to have been made to obtain factual verifications from either parties.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Another classic case of "headline journalism"
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Alot of people walked away from that headline saying "wow the plane wasnt insured", when that has yet to be determined. Fault of the newspaper for engaging in headline journalism
BoopaDoop 9 years, 4 months ago
If pilot error is the final outcome, will the families file claims against Diplomat Aviation?
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Any lawyer worth their beans would be advising them, most certainly.
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
If the insurance did indeed lapse and there will be no insurance payout, civil suits will be the only recourse of sorts. NOW...If Diplomat Aviation is just a holding company for the registration of the aircraft and was not actually 'operating' the aircraft, but maybe 'leasing' the aircraft to Munroe ministries or similar, it gets even foggier..it was no fault of the planes that the pilots flew it into a crane. Now, if Diplomat Aviation was 'chartering' and the whole flight was done up part and parcel, flight billed out by Diplomat to Munroe, and pilots paid by Diplomat, that's a completely different ballgame. Also...Diplomat Aviation according to THIS article is Bahamian entity...I thought I saw where it was a US Entity...I could be wrong...if it was a Bahamian entity doing charters, were they actually legally licensed to do charters in the Bahamas through the CAD?
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Perhaps the media can look into these questions...not!
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
Nah...too much like work...
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Indeed
DEDDIE 9 years, 4 months ago
The case will most likely burn down to reasonable expectation and past history. If Diplomat Aviation has a history of paying late and not receiving notice of cancellation then they have a reasonable expectation that they are covered. This is especially so if the insurance company in question renew the policy from the date the policy ends versus the date the payment is made. I am quite sure there are numerous past case studies to draw legal argument from.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Unfortunately we don't know most of the salient details of the case; from this article anyway.
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
Most Aviation policies I have dealt with do not renew...they expire, and you start up a new policy, many times all new forms and applications need to be put in for the next years insurance quote, things such as pilot hours through the year, pilot training that took place through the year, copies of medical records on the primary pilots, etc, etc, etc...it's not as simple or automatic as renewing your car insurance, it expires on that day, and unless a fresh policy is in the works and agreed upon, then you can argue if payment was late or not, but you need all that paperwork already on the go prior to expiration of the previous policy.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Right.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Had the pilot in charge of Dr. Myles private Lear flown into any US or Canadian airport, without possessing a certificate of insurance liability, they would be turned way upon landing.
jusscoolin 9 years, 4 months ago
Is it a coincidence that the insurance expired 4 days before the crash or is the insurance company pulling a fast one. Where are the papers for the airplane ? Did it go down with it? Where are the copies ? Did the copies just vanish?.............2 B Continued!
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
Did anyone notice who the defendant is in this case? Diplomat Aviation. In order to be a defendant, a claim has been made against you or a charge has been laid against you. So, the insurance company is the entity that filed suit in this case then. If Diplomat Aviation was suing the insurance company, the insurance company would be the defendant, but it is the plaintiff according to this article. So this suggests then that the insurance company made the first move of the two judicially, claiming before a court of law that Diplomat Aviation is liable for the crash and not them. Their suit would then be that Diplomat Aviation failed to meet its obligation to initiate renewal of its policy and is thus liable in any payouts. Is this a subrogation suit filed by the Insurance company? If so, has someone already filed suit against the Insurance company, who in turn is suing Diplomat Aviation? This information should have been provided in this article. The court's ruling will be interesting.
DEDDIE 9 years, 4 months ago
Insurance companies hate paying out claims especially for a huge sum of money. The initial salvo always starts in the courts and ends in a settlement between the parties.
Publius 9 years, 4 months ago
We all know how insurance companies hate payouts, but one assumes they had a case to bring if they filed suit and the judge permitted it to proceed. I am wondering if this matter began with the insurance company or if the insurance company's suit is a subrogation suit.
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Comrades long-gone are the days when you insurance company were so committed to their policyholders that they would actually show up as 'hired" fire brigades at fires. Lucky you, if your building had their metal 'fire mark' visible on outside. If not, the cruel bastards would stand by and watch your building burn itself to the ground. Oh yeah, they can still get that way, when it's time payout your insurance claim.
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