PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought against the Trinidad and Tobago government over the 2009 collapse of the British American Insurance Co. Ltd and Colonial Life Insurance Co. Ltd insurance giants.
The British American Insurance Co. Ltd and Colonial Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Policy Holders Group (BACOL) brought the lawsuit, claiming that after 15 years of perseverance, it has “significantly advanced the pursuit of financial justice” for policyholders in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines who have “suffered extreme financial loss and hardship” after the collapse of the British American Insurance Co. Ltd. (BAICO).
BACOL said the collapse resulted in losses of over EC$800,000,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) to businesses and individuals.
In April, the case of Ellis Richards and others versus Trinidad and Tobago was heard, and the CCJ, which has Original Jurisdiction and also acts as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) that governs the regional integration movement (CARICOM), reserved judgment on the matter.
However, CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders, in a summary of the court ruling, said that to establish discrimination, the claimants had to prove that they were treated worse or less favorably than persons whose circumstances were similar to theirs.
They also had to show no objective and reasonable justification for the difference in treatment and that the worse or less favorable treatment occurred in the context of an activity that was within the scope of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
“The Court found that the circumstances of CLICO, BAT, and CIB (Clico Investment Bank) policyholders were not similar to BAICO policyholders. This is due to findings of the Court that the defendant’s actions formed part of the governmental bailout of private commercial entities to prevent severe dislocation to its economy”.
Justice Saunders said the Court noted that if the claimant’s arguments were correct, “it would mean that the defendant would have been responsible for bailing out all BAI policyholders in other Caribbean territories.
“The Court found that it could not have been in the contemplation of the framers of the RTC that the member state in such circumstances would be obliged to compensate all BAICO policyholders in all CARICCOM states for all their loss and damages.”
Justice Saunders said that the CCJ accepted that “this is an objective” and that the Court considered that there is no obligation to extend any relief to institutions outside of the defendant member state “and therefore no rights in the claimants to obtain relief.
“The case is dismissed, and the parties were ordered to bear their costs,” Justice Saunders said in the summary of the judgment.
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