Jeffery v. London Life Insurance Company
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: On November 3, 2011, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision considering the appeal brought by the Defendants, London Life Insurance Company and The Great-West Life Assurance Company. Please click here for a copy of the Court of Appeal’s decision. Please click to review the press release of Class Counsel.
Summary of the Litigation:
On January 28, 2005, Harrison Pensa LLP issued a Statement of Claim against London Life Insurance Company (“LLIC”) and The Great-West Life Assurance Company (“GWLAC”). The action relates to a transaction whereby $180,000,000 was taken from the participating policyholders’ account of LLIC and used towards the financing of the acquisition of London Insurance Group Inc. (the parent company of LLIC) by GWLAC and Great-West Lifeco Inc. It is alleged that the transaction violates the Insurance Companies Act and the common law. The action seeks the repayment of all amounts improperly removed from the participating policyholders’ account, appropriate interest or other compensation for the loss of the use of the removed funds, disgorgement of any benefits obtained by the Defendants from the use of the funds and an order compelling the payment of dividends, bonuses or other benefits to the class. The Representative Plaintiffs allege that the Par Account Transactions caused significant harm to the participating policyholders and that they were undertaken without regard to (or adequate protection of) the interests of participating policyholders The Defendants dispute the Plaintiffs allegations.
Status of the Proceedings
The trial of this matter took place between September 28, 2009 and January 15, 2010. Prior to the trial, the case was the subject of extensive case management. The matter was certified on February 29, 2008. The certification decision was upheld on appeal to the Divisional Court by a decision dated September 3, 2008. The parties undertook extensive oral and documentary discovery in advance of the trial.
On October, 1, 2010, the trial judge released Reasons for Judgment. The plaintiffs and the class were successful and the court ordered the defendants to pay approximately $400 million dollars. The trial court also ordered that litigation trusts be formed in order to facilitate a distribution of benefits to class members. A copy of the decision can be accessed below.
The trial judge’s decision was appealed by the Defendants. The appeal was heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal on June 6, 7 and 8, 2011. On November 3, 2011, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision. Please click for a copy of the Court of Appeal’s decision.
View Documents
- Court of Appeal
- Decision of the Ontario Court of Justice
- Amended Statement of Claim – January 2005 (546 KB)
- Amended Statement of Defense – May 2006 (370 KB)
- Motion for Certification – June 2005 (521 KB)
- Reasons of Leitch RSJ – February 2008 (pdf, 1.05MB)
- Fresh as Amended Statement of Claim – April 2008 (1.43MB)
- Reasons of T.D. Little J. – April 21, 2008 (pdf, 41KB)
- Reasons of Swinton, J. – September 3, 2008 (pdf, 0.99MB)
Class Counsel
The law firms of Harrison Pensa LLP and Bates Barristers represent class members. Jon Foreman of Harrison Pensa can be reached at 519.661.6775 or by e-mail to jforeman@harrisonpensa.com. Paul Bates of Bates Barristers can be reached at 416.869.9898 or by e-mail at pbates@batesbarristers.com.