Cardiff City tried to take out insurance for £20 million the day after Emiliano Sala died
This comes from papers filed to the High Court - with the club suing Miller Insurance claiming it owes more than £10 million
Last updated 9th Jun 2024
Cardiff City tried to take out £20 million insurance on star striker Emiliano Sala the day after he was killed in a plane crash in the English Channel, according to papers filed to the High Court.
The club's suing Miller Insurance claiming it owes more than £10 million in a High Court bid.
It comes a company of insurance brokers say Cardiff City failed to get cover for the tragic record signing before his plane went down as he flew to Wales from France.
The 28-year-old Argentine striker died during a private flight from Nantes.
He was travelling to England to take up his new role with Cardiff City.
But the club say they've not been able to claim back the money paid for Sala after insurers refused to pay out.
The club says the firm failed to say players would not be covered if they were not "timely informed" of new signings.
But lawyers representing the brokers say it was not up to them to "chase" club bosses over making sure new signings were insured.
The lawyers also claim that City were "fully aware" Sala was not insured - with Alistair Schaff KC telling the High Court that Cardiff City contacted insurers regarding Sala on January 22 2019 the morning after his flight went missing off the coast of Alderney via email - asking for coverage for Sala valued at £20 million.
The company denies the club being owed a penny of that.
Cardiff City claim says Miller Insurance failed to properly explain the concept of an "insurable interest" for football player transfers.
They also claim that the requirement of a "prompt" notification of the transfer in order to secure coverage wasn't laid out properly.
It says the broker did not let the club know about the risks of "delaying this notification of an interest or the steps that might be taken to reduce or eliminate the risks."
But Miller insisted it was not their responsibility to chase the club to make sure it added new players to its policy "immediately".
It claimed the broker had warned Cardiff City Football Club several times that there would be a gap in a player's insurance cover between acquiring an "insurable interest" in a new player and informing the insurer.
67-year-old David Henderson hired unqualified pilot David Ibbotson to fly the plane from Nantes to Cardiff airport.
During the flight, the plane crashed - where both the pilot and Sala died.
Sala’s body was recovered in a private salvage operation to find the Piper Malibu N264DB.
Mr Ibbotson's body was never found in the sunken wreckage.
The legal battle filed in papers to the High Court comes after Henderson was sentenced to 18 months behind bars last year for his role in the tragedy.
Lawyers for Cardiff City said that Miller's defense is being "evaluated, but doesn't seem to contain any surprises." The club represented by David Phillips KC added that it expects to file a reply "soon" to the High Court in London.