UK court rules in favor of Mamancochet Mining in €3.8 million insurance dispute
Insurers must honor policy despite U.S. sanctions concerns, clarifying the application of sanctions clauses in European insurance contracts, a court in the United Kingdom decided in October 2018.
In the case Mamancochet Mining Ltd v. Aegis Managing Agency Ltd & Ors [2018] EWHC 2643 (Comm), Mamancochet Mining Ltd sought approximately €3.8 million in damages. The dispute centered around the refusal of insurers to pay out under a marine cargo insurance policy following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran. The insurers argued that making the payment would expose them to the risk of violating sanctions, while Mamancochet contended that they were still entitled to the insurance payout.
The case ultimately addressed the interpretation of sanctions clauses within insurance contracts and whether payment under the policy would breach EU sanctions law, according to the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Mamancochet Mining Company Overview
Mamancochet Mining Limited (MML) was registered in the UK on October 14, 2011. Its current board of directors consists of Stephane Abraham Joseph NAHUM (French), Eileen Marie SAWYER (British) and Patrick Colin O’DRISCOLL (Irish). O’DRISCOLL was named on the incorporation documents of MML as company director. NAHUM is on the board of 391 companies, SAWYER is on the board of 152 companies and O’DRISCOLL is on the board of 238 companies. All of these companies are registered at “4th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank” in London. Nahum became MML’s director in 2018. Sawyer was named as the company’s new director in 2022.
MML’s articles of incorporation name a company called BC Minerals and Metals Limited, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, as its shareholder. BC Minerals and Metals Limited’s address is listed as “P.O. Box 3174; Road Town; Tortola; British Virgin Islands” which is in the ICIJ database of offshores.
A 2012 filing adds RB Resources Limited , also registered in the British Virgin Islands, as the second shareholder of MML.
In 2015, MML declared its assets as £10.63 million and its payments and accrued income as £93k. MML’s 2016 assets were declared as £10.64 million pounds and its payments and accrued income as £192k.
In 2017 an audit report was released on MML which states that it has received £10.62 million in assets from BC Minerals and Metals Limited and that Aldersgate Investments Limited is another one of its creditors that it has received £223k from.
MML’s parent company is RB Resources Limited and its ultimate parent company is RB International Limited. All of these companies are registered at the “P.O. Box 3174; Road Town; Tortola” address in the British Virgin Islands.
RB International Limited is also in the ICIJ database and connected to a series of shell companies.
In 2019, MML’s new shareholder was named as RB Oil Limited also registered in the British Virgin Islands. And in the financial audit report from the same year, MML’s immediate parent company was named as RB Oil Limited instead of RB Resources Limited. The company’s financial audit statements for 2022 once again named RB Resources Limited as MML’s immediate parent company.
None of these companies have websites.