Russian oligarch ex-wife drops lawsuit against City law firm over ‘Luna’, the superyacht
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire has pulled her lawsuit against the law firm who handled her high-profile divorce, and now faces paying “the substantial costs” incurred.
Tatiana Soroka launched a claim against the high-net-worth law firm Payne Hicks Beach which handed her divorce to former Russian politician Farkhad Akhmedov in 2016.
Her professional negligence claim also extended to Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, a partner at the law firm.
In her divorce settlement, Akhmedov was ordered to pay her £350m, among other things, but he did not willingly comply with the order.
London-listed legal financial firm Burford Capital backed Soroka in her high-profile divorce battle and as a result, were paid £74.6m for their role.
Soroka had to take steps in various jurisdictions to enforce the order, but eventually, a settlement was agreed.
However, she went on to take legal action in 2023 against Payne Hicks Beach for allegedly missing the chance to have her former husband’s $200m superyacht Luna, which was seized in 2017 Miami and was once owned by Roman Abramovich.
The parties were at the High Court late last month, and Soroka sought a split trial over breach, duty, causation and loss issues, which the judge denied.
As highlighted in that judgment, she instructed two counsels for that application, and their brief fees alone were £61,000; with the addition of the lawyers, the total costs for her application were approximately £135,000.
The judge added that while the law firm did not provide any indication of their costs, the judge noted the costs of the application exceeds £200,000, with their two counsels’ combined brief fees of £46,000.
However, since then, the case has been dropped, and a spokesperson for the law firm said it was “pleased but not surprised” that she withdrew her claim.
The spokesperson said Soroka “will receive no payment from us, and she has to pay the substantial costs we have incurred in this matter”.
“Payne Hicks Beach is enormously proud of the work undertaken by Baroness Shackleton and her outstanding team and of what they achieve for their clients,” they added.
“This is particularly true in respect of Soroka, who received, at the time, the highest ever adjudicated financial award in a divorce case.”