Copterline, Sikorsky end suit

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. settled litigation by a Finnish helicopter shuttle company over an August 2005 crash that killed 14 people. In separate action, a judge dismissed a plaintiff”™s lawsuit seeking $12 million for commissions on helicopter sales to the government of Saudi Arabia.

Copterline Oy had sought $90 million in its lawsuit against Sikorsky in U.S. District Court in New York City, claiming that coating flakes had interfered with the helicopter”™s steering system, sending the aircraft plunging into the Baltic Sea shortly after takeoff.

The companies did not disclose the settlement terms. Victim family members are pursuing separate lawsuits in federal court in Bridgeport in an ongoing case.

Separately, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Sikorsky after a plaintiff company dropped its claim that it helped Sikorsky sell helicopters to the government of Saudi Arabia, and so was owed millions of dollars in compensation.

Riyadh-based Jadwalean International Co. for Operations & Management had sued Stratford-based Sikorsky in January, along with Sikorsky”™s Hartford-based parent United Technologies Corp.

The dispute revolved around the sale of 31 Sikorsky S-92 helicopters for use by the Saudi Ministry of Interior, split between the manufacturer”™s large S-92 model and mid-size S-76.

 

Jadwalean argued that a series of emails it had exchanged with a Sikorsky representative established that it was owed commissions of $500,000 on each S-92 delivered under the contract, and $250,000 for each S-76, and that Sikorsky”™s conduct was “immoral, unethical, oppressive and unscrupulous” in a region where the company has been competing aggressively for new business.

 

In a response to Jadwalean”™s complaint filed in March, UTC confirmed that it signed a sales representation contract with Jadwalean in 2006, under which Jadwalean would receive a $500,000 commission on the sale of each S-92 helicopter Sikorsky sold to Saudi Arabia”™s military, with the contract not explicitly covering other Saudi agencies like the Ministry of Interior.

Sikorsky rejected the notion it acted unethically, stating the email evidence referenced by Jadwalean proved that the contractor knew the contract terms were legally binding.

In both the Copterline and Jadwalean cases, Sikorsky and UTC were represented by Steven Greenspan, an attorney in the Hartford office of Day Pitney L.L.P.

UTC and Sikorsky continue to build up their capabilities in the Middle East. In mid-August, the European Commission approved UTC”™s plan to create an aircraft maintenance facility in the United Arab Emirates, which will work on Black Hawk helicopters flown by the region”™s nations. The venture is expected to create as many as 4,000 jobs.

Sikorsky continues to work other international channels; in July, the government of South Korea started the order process to buy eight Black Hawk helicopters equipped with engines from Fairfield-based General Electric Co., in a contract worth approximately $1 billion for Sikorsky, GE and other contractors retooling the helicopters for use in naval mine-sweeping operations.

Earlier this month, the government of Thailand requested three Black Hawk helicopters, along with unspecified support services in a contract worth as much as $150 million.