Fit seeking$ 2.7 billion alleges that a serious design flaw caused the 2018 injury that resulted in the deaths of King Power’s CEO and four others.
LONDON- The home of former King Power president Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in a plane crash in 2018, has brought a legal actions against the Roman helicopter company Leonardo SpA valued at £2.15 billion ( US$ 2.7 billion ) in a London court.
The family said in a statement released on Friday that the lawsuit was the largest fatal injury claim in American history and that it sought recompense for lost earnings and other problems.
Leonardo did not respond to a request for comment that had been sent via email.
Vichai, 60, was the owner of Leicester City soccer club, buying the English Premier League area in 2010. Leicester won the Premier League name in 2016 and shocked the game.
One of five people who died soon after launch outside King Power Stadium in Leicester on October 27, 2018, was Vichai, who made his fortune by starting the King Power duty-free firm in Thailand.
Captain Eric Swaffer, his companion Izabela Roza Lechowicz and two people of Vichai’s workers, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, were even killed.
The Leonardo AW169 helicopter owned by Vichai was unable to recover from a tail rotor failure in a report released in 2023 by Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch ( AAIB ).
Following the report, Leonardo claimed that the AAIB had determined that the company’s AW169 aircraft had met all of the regulations when it was designing and manufacturing them. ( Story continues below )
Investigators examine the wreckage of the plane that Leicester City user Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha owned after it allegedly collided on October 27, 2018, outside the Leicester City stadium. ( Photo: Reuters )
Collection of problems
Nevertheless, the Srivaddhanaprabha home alleges the helicopter company is guilty for Vichai’s suicide.
They point to Leonardo’s claim that the loss of a crucial component located in the neck wheel, which Leonardo had identified as crucial, was the cause of the collision in the AAIB statement.  ,
The statement read,” This failing prompted a series of additional losses that drove the plane into an excessive and accelerating roll until it crashed and erupted into embers.”
The state alleges the seizure of the component, and the fatal consequences, were the result of many failures in Leonardo’s design process, including a crucial design alteration it had made in various helicopter variants to alleviate one of the risks, that it did not use in the accident helicopter.
Only that pattern change could have prevented the helicopter losing complete control and the deaths of all those aboard. Additionally, it claims that the company failed to warn users or government officials about the chance.  ,
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who took over as president of Leicester City and King Power, said,” We have pondered the opinions of the AAIB review and thought carefully about how we wished to deal.”
” My father had faith in Leonardo when he purchased that aircraft, but the conclusions of the document into his death demonstrate that he had lost faith.” I hold them entirely culpable for his death,” he was quoted as saying in the speech.
Along with older barristers Philip Shepherd Houston and Harry Steinberg KC, the family has retained the European aviation legislation firm Stewarts to reflect them.
Peter Neenan, a companion at Stewarts, said:” Leonardo’s clients include regional forces, heat vehicles and other first responders across the globe. It is crucial that all of these helicopter’s users have faith in them.