Court rejects damages claim in Sabena bankruptcy

According to a report in the financial daily De Tijd earlier in the week, the case was ruled on two weeks ago, but none of the parties involved chose to reveal the result. Cases before the Cassation Court – which looks only at purely procedural matters – are not routinely publicised.

Sabena went bankrupt in 2001, after it was taken over by Swissair, a subsidiary of the Swiss-based SAirGroup. In a case judged in Brussels in January 2011, the court ruled than SAirGroup was chiefly responsible for the collapse of the airline. It also awarded the Belgian state €300,000, a fraction of the €1 billion demanded.

Both SAirGroup and the Belgian state took the judgement to the Cassation Court to be overturned, but both saw their arguments rejected. SAirGroup will now have to pay the damages, and the Belgian state will have to be content with the damages awarded.

The judgement is important for the Swiss because it now leaves the door open for SAirGroup to be responsible for other damages to other parties, including former Sabena employees, maintenance and leasing partners and the national social security office RSZ, in actions which could cost up to €2 billion.

The Swiss are also facing possible criminal charges that they failed to act in good faith in allowing Sabena to go broke, with the loss of more than 5,000 jobs. Swissair is accused of failing to live up to its contractual obligations regarding cash investment in the airline, as well as saddling Sabena with the cost of 34 new Airbus aircraft it could not afford. Swissair is now owned by the German airline Lufthansa.

Photo courtesy DeWereldMorgen.be