Italian court to hear Vietnam Air appeal
An Italian court has agreed to hear an appeal from Vietnam Airlines of a ruling five years ago in which it was ordered to pay euro4.3 million to an Italian lawyer, the airline said Saturday.
"This is a good sign for Vietnam Airlines," airline spokesman Nguyen Chan said, adding that the appeal is set to begin in January 2006.
The case centered around a lawsuit filed in 1994 by an Italian lawyer who was fired by the sales agency representing the airline in Italy, local media have reported.
In 2000, a court in Rome ordered the airline to pay euro4.3 million to lawyer Maurizio Liberati, who originally sued Vietnam Airlines and the Italian sales agency for 573 million lira in allegedly unpaid services.
The national carrier was notified of court proceedings in 1995 in Rome, but didn't send representatives to attend.
In February last year, Vietnam Airlines was informed that Paris was freezing euro1.3 million of the carrier's assets in a bank account in France to pay Liberati at the request of the Italian court, state media have reported.
It was unclear whether the bank account would continue to be frozen pending the outcome of the appeal.
The Associated Press - April 01, 2005.
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