GKN Westland Helicopters Ltd and Others -v- Korean Airlines, English Commercial Court, February 2003
In February 2003 the Commercial Court considered whether a Defendant’s liability to pay a Claimant’s costs when a Payment into Court under Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules ("CPR") is accepted can be overridden by an offer made in accordance with Article 22(4) of the Warsaw Convention of 1929 as amended by the Hague Protocol of 1955 ("the Convention").
The dispute arose as a result of the crash of Korean Airline’s ("Korean") B747 near Stansted on 22 December 1999. All of the cargo on board the aircraft was destroyed including a gear box assembly weighing 636 kg’s and printing press equipment weighing 959 kg’s. The sequence of events was as follows: on 5 July 2000, Korean made a settlement offer of US$31,900; on 14 November 2001, Korean revised its offer to US$22,357.60 (equivalent to Warsaw limits); on 16 December 2001 proceedings were issued; and on 29 July 2002, Korean made a
