Treasury 1, Lloyd’s Names 0

Lloyd’s Names have lost a legal challenge against the Treasury over claims that successive governments had failed properly to implement an EU insurance directive dealing with insurance risk, which would have brought to light substantial additional syndicate liabilities

The High Court held, first, that the directive had not given the Names the necessary rights to allow them to bring such claims and, secondly, the claims – from the late 1980s and 1990s – were in any event time-barred. The Names had argued that had the market been properly regulated by the Treasury, before the Financial Services Authority took over in 2001, they would have been aware of additional risks and therefore made smaller investments and avoided heavy losses from asbestos and pollution claims.

Various Press reports (e.g. Bloomberg)