Eleven insurers are suing the UK P&I Club for not pitching in on certain expenses related to a fatal explosion in 2017.
The insurers, including Travelers, Swiss Re, XL and two Lloyd's syndicates, said they paid $1.4m toward tank cleaning and other incidental charges after an explosion on Bouchard Transportation's 9,800-gt B No 255 barge (built 1999) off Port Aransas, Texas.
The blast killed two and ultimately forced the barge to be scrapped and Bouchard Transportation to file for bankruptcy.
The insurers said in their complaint, entered into the US federal court for New Jersey on Wednesday, that each of them paid their share based on their percentage of the hull risk insurance, with Travelers holding 15% and contributing the most at $212,991 and US Fire Insurance the least at $56,798.
UK P&I, the complaint alleges, was the insurer responsible for personal injury and death and has not shared the amounts paid to crew members killed or hurt in the blast. It also failed to contribute to the $1.4m despite the determination by Bouchard Transportation's adjuster that all 12 parties should pay.
UK P&I declined to comment, citing the case's ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit was first filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey's Hudson County division, as UK P&I maintains an office in Jersey City.
After the blast, Bouchard Transportation ran into difficulty obtaining the requisite safety documents to keep its vessels trading, leading to several years of losses.
The company declared bankruptcy in September 2020, hoping to secure financing to pay its bills and breathing room to get its fleet of oceangoing articulated tug barges back on the water.
The company has been unable to do so, however, and recently filed a court complaint to force the US Coast Guard and ABS to review its new safety plans.
