The Shanghai Maritime Court has received a thank-you letter to assist private enterprises in obtaining 187 million yuan in insurance compensation cases | Company | Thank you letter
"The process of handling this case reflects the proficient professional abilities and qualities of the judges, as well as the firm determination of the country to optimize the business environment. Recently, a sincere thank-you letter was sent to the Shanghai Maritime Court.". The letter was sent by a private enterprise engaged in offshore wind power projects in Pudong New Area. With the efforts of the Shanghai Maritime Court, they successfully received 187 million yuan in insurance compensation, greatly alleviating the company's financial pressure.
In 2016, a company in Jiangsu registered and established the involved Ocean Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd. in Pudong New Area, focusing on offshore wind power installation business and investing 400 million yuan to build a new offshore wind power platform. In July 2020, during the pile pulling operation of the offshore wind farm in Nantong, the hydraulic lifting system of the platform got stuck and could not take off and land normally, resulting in the platform being submerged in water. After more than two months of salvage and more than four months of maintenance, the platform was able to resume production.
The huge towing, salvage, rescue, and repair costs incurred in this accident have put a heavy burden on Ocean Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd., and they urgently hope to obtain compensation from insurance companies to help the company overcome difficulties. Offshore wind power platforms have a high level of technological innovation and high construction and maintenance costs. However, the construction environment of offshore wind power projects is complex, and once an accident occurs, the loss amount is usually relatively high. Therefore, in November 2019, the company purchased ship all risk insurance from an insurance company for offshore wind power platforms.
Originally, the company leader was very confident in obtaining a claim. However, the insurance company has raised objections to the claim amount. Due to the significant gap between the two parties and the delay in reaching an agreement, Ocean Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd. had to file a lawsuit with the court. At this point, the insurance company raised a jurisdictional objection, which was rejected and then appealed. By the time the case was finally determined to be tried by the Shanghai Maritime Court, the plaintiff, Ocean Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd., was already exhausted: not being able to receive compensation meant that the company's financial pressure could not be relieved, and they had to constantly invest time and money into this lawsuit.
For the Shanghai Maritime Court, trying this case is not easy either. As a new type of offshore wind power platform accident insurance contract dispute, this case involves many difficulties in legal application and factual determination. Judge Xie Zhenzhi said, "For example, if the plaintiff has insured against all risks of ships, can offshore wind power platforms be classified as ships?"? In this case, the cost of ship repairs alone reached several thousand items, and the final report was as many as 2000 pages. The insurance company raised a large number of objections. How to verify each item one by one?
"If we follow the normal trial process and one party may have to appeal, this case will actually take a very long time and be detrimental to the plaintiff's business." After considering this, the collegial panel decided to try to close the case through mediation. In the case of huge differences between the two parties, mediation is undoubtedly a tough task, but once successful, it can save a lot of time and is a more advantageous solution for the plaintiff.
After four rounds of evidence exchange, the longest lasting one lasting 10 hours, the judge gradually narrowed the gap between the two sides in the amount of compensation. "In this process, we also adopted some small techniques to improve efficiency," Xie Zhenzhuan said. In response to the complex project of thousands of items and the largest proportion of ship repair costs, both sides provided evaluation opinions with vastly different conclusions. Considering the time-consuming and labor-intensive nature of the evaluation and appraisal, as well as the strong professionalism of the repair project, under the recommendation of the collegial panel, the insurance assessors of both parties have appeared in court to express their professional opinions. For the parts of the project that do not have differences, they will first sort out and confirm them, and then explain the reasons for the differences. If consensus cannot be reached, the final evaluation and appraisal mode will be submitted.
After completing the evaluation of ship repair costs, the gap in willingness between the plaintiff and defendant has been narrowed. Taking this opportunity, the collegiate bench guides the negotiation and mediation process. In the end, both parties shook hands and made peace, and the insurance company paid a compensation of 187 million yuan to the plaintiff, which was fully fulfilled in July of this year.
"The fair and rapid resolution of this case not only protected our legitimate rights and interests and allowed us to recover a huge amount of funds, but also provided a shot in the arm for other enterprises engaged in the new energy industry. In the event of such a major insurance accident, we no longer worry about the insurer's unreasonable refusal to claim compensation." In the end of the thank-you letter, this private enterprise wrote.
