A Singapore court has dismissed Bharat Forge’s case against Bombardier, two years after the Indian auto component giant dragged the Canadian plane maker to court over alleged faulty parts in an aircraft.
Bharat Forge’s claims were “hopeless, both factually and logically,” said Judge Andre Maniam. ET has seen a copy of the judgement. Maniam also directed Bharat Forge to pay $10,000 to Bombardier.
Bharat Forge didn’t respond to an email seeking comment before the story went to press.
Bharat Forge’s jet, a long-range Bombardier Global Express XRS, was given for a major maintenance shop visit to Bombardier Aviation Services (BASS) and was sent over to the facility of BASS, located at Selatar Airport in 2020.
When the aircraft came back from Bombardier, “there were repeated system failures, part failures and erratic and unpredictable system functioning,” Bharat Forge had alleged, according to a person in the know, adding it did not have “adequate operational testing and stabilisation review prior to installation.”
The Singapore court judgment however said Bharat Forge got any such warranty from Bombardier.
“Indeed, Bharat Forge expected the aircraft to be perfect (or “almost to perfection”), it did not pay for it. Instead, it contracted for BASS to perform a specified scope of work, on agreed terms and conditions. In so doing, Bharat Forge worked hard to negotiate and bring down the inspection cost,” said judge Maniam in the judgement.
“At trial, Bharat Forge’s case fell apart – there was hardly anything keeping it together to begin with. Undeterred, Bharat Forge persisted with its claims through closing submissions and reply closing submissions, in which it essentially ignored what had happened at trial, falling back on assertions in AEICs that had been recanted, or that had been shown to be without merit,” said the judgement.
