The family of former Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s King Power Stadium, has filed a £2.15billion fatal accident claim against the aircraft’s manufacturer, Leonardo S.p.A.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four other people died in the crash following Leicester’s Premier League match against West Ham United on 27 October 2018.
A press release from Stewarts, the law firm representing the Srivaddhanaprabha family, called the legal action the “largest fatal accident claim in English history”. It goes on to allege “that Leonardo is liable for the death of Khun Vichai”.
The claim, which is seeking compensation for the loss of earnings and other damages to the tune of £2.15bn, has been filed three days before an inquest into the deaths of the five people killed in the crash begins at Leicester City Hall on Monday, January 13.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, two members of his staff — Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare — and pilots Eric Swaffer and Izabela Roza Lechowicz were all killed in the crash.
A report from The Air Accidents Investigation Branch’s (AAIB), published in September 2023, found the crash had “most likely” been caused by a “seizure of the tail rotor duplex bearing” which initiated a sequence of failures in the tail rotor pitch control mechanism, sending the Leonardo AW169 into a spin from which it was impossible for the pilots to recover.
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s son and successor as Leicester chairman, said in a statement accompanying the press release: “My family feels the loss of my father as much today as we ever have done.
“That my own children, and their cousins will never know their grandfather compounds our suffering.
“We have reflected on the conclusions of the AAIB report and thought carefully about how we wished to proceed. My father trusted Leonardo when he bought that helicopter but the conclusions of the report into his death show that his trust was fatally misplaced. I hold them wholly responsible for his death.”
When asked by The Athletic for a response to the legal claim, the Italian aviation company said in a statement: “Leonardo has the deepest sympathy for those who lost their lives in the accident, all of them clearly loved by their families, friends and communities.
“Their deaths were an unquestionable tragedy. Leonardo is aware of the claim which has been issued by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s family in the English High Court and is considering this with its legal advisers and insurers. Leonardo intends to defend this claim.”
The firm added the AAIB investigation had concluded they had “complied with all regulatory requirements in both the design and manufacture of the AW169” helicopter.
The claim will now either be settled or go to court, where a judge will decide the outcome based on evidence provided by both parties.
The inquest into the crash, which is separate to Friday’s legal claim, will take place in front of a jury and is expected to last between two and three weeks.
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
