Barbadian policyholders have lost their ten-year-old $163 million class action suit against Canadian insurance giant Manulife.
The suit was filed by the 8 000 policyholders led by main plaintiffs Wismar Greaves, a former Supervisor of Insurance; Richard Mandeville, Anthony Bowen and the late Sir Marcus Jordan, who claimed their rights were infringed when Manulife sold its insurance business to the former Life of Barbados in December, 1996.
Manulife, which was a mutual life insurance company that had been owned by the policyholders, was demutualised after the sale.
Its participating policyholders at the time of the demutualization were paid CAN$9 million (BDS$17.7 million) in cash or shares, but the Barbados policyholders did not receive any compensation since it was determined they were no longer Manulife policyholders after the acquisition of the company by Life of Barbados. (GC)
