- The court rejected claims for around $340m.
- Chubb paid $57.6m to AerCap.
- Fidelis paid $240m to AerCap.
- The ruling came on 13 May 2026.
- Recovery must use subrogation routes.
Chubb European Group and Fidelis Insurance Ireland have lost their claims in the Commercial High Court of England and Wales. The insurers sought to recover around $340m from war risk underwriters over payments made to aircraft lessors after losses linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The court dismissed the contribution claims on 13 May 2026.
The ruling followed a June 2025 judgment that held Chubb and Fidelis liable under contingent war risk policies for aircraft stranded in Russia. Chubb paid $57.6m to AerCap while Fidelis paid $240m to AerCap and around $50m to Merx Aviation Finance. The underwriters successfully applied for summary judgment to strike out the claims in the Russian aircraft litigation operator policy cases.
Chubb and Fidelis argued that war risk underwriters should have paid first. The court found that their payments did not extinguish the primary liabilities and ruled that any recovery must proceed through subrogation rather than direct claims.
