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The
proceedings arose out of the Iraqi invasion and capture of Kuwait International
Airport in 1990. At first instance Langley J held that the loss of a
BA aircraft, destroyed at Kuwait International Airport by coalition
bombing in January 1991, did not arise out of the same event which caused
the loss of 15 Kuwaiti aircraft seized by Iraqi forces, namely the invasion
of Kuwait and seizure of the airport in August 1990. The reinsurance
contracts contained aggregation provisions referring to "each and
every loss or series of losses arising from one event.
The
Court of Appeal confirmed Langley J's view that, because there was one
general state of affairs, the invasion of Kuwait, it did not follow
that there was only one event. The "unities" of time, manner,
place, cause and intention, now the standard test for whether an aggregating
"event" has occurred, were not the same for the loss of the
Kuwaiti fleet as for the BA aircraft.
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