The family of Thai businessman and former Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in a helicopter crash in 2018, has brought a legal action against Italian helicopter manufacturer Leonardo SpA LDOF.MI in a London court valued at £2.15 billion (€2.56bn).
The family said in a statement on Friday that the action, which claims for loss of earnings and other damages, represented the largest fatal accident claim in English history.
Pilot Eric Swaffer, his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz and two members of Srivaddhanaprabha's staff, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, were also killed in the 2018 crash, shortly after take-off outside Leicester City's King Power Stadium following a Premier League match.
King Power duty-free magnate Srivaddhanaprabha was the owner and chairman of Leicester City, having bought the central England side in 2010. Leicester won the English Premier League in 2016 and remain under the family's ownership.
Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found in a 2023 report that it was not possible for the pilot to recover from a tail rotor failure with the Leonardo AW169 helicopter.
A spokesperson for the family said today that multiple failures in Leonardo’s design process caused the component to seize and that a "key design alteration" was made to mitigate one risk in other helicopter variants, but that change had not been made in the aircraft Srivaddhanaprabha was in.
"That design alteration alone may have prevented the total loss of control of the helicopter and the death of all those on board", the spokesperson claimed, adding that Leonardo failed to warn customers or regulators about the risk.
Khun Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha, who succeeded his father as Leicester chairman, said: "My family feels the loss of my father as much today as we ever have done.
"That my own children and their cousins will never know their grandfather compounds our suffering.
"We have reflected on the conclusions of the AAIB report and thought carefully about how we wished to proceed.
"My father trusted Leonardo when he bought that helicopter but the conclusions of the report into his death show that his trust was fatally misplaced. I hold them wholly responsible for his death."
A spokesperson for Leonardo UK said the company "intends to defend this claim".
It said: "Leonardo has the deepest sympathy for those who lost their lives in the accident, all of them clearly loved by their families, friends and communities.
"Their deaths were an unquestionable tragedy. Leonardo is aware of the claim which has been issued by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha's family in the English High Court and is considering this with its legal advisers and insurers. Leonardo intends to defend this claim.
"Leonardo notes that the AAIB Final Report, released in September 2023, has not directed any recommended actions to Leonardo.
"The AAIB report concluded that Leonardo complied with all regulatory requirements in both the design and manufacture of the AW169.
"Leonardo meets the most modern and stringent certification and safety standards in the sector. Any further comment on the claim at this time would be premature."
An inquest into the crash will begin at Leicester Coroner's Court on Monday.
