BAICO/ CLICO policy holders in Dominica urged to join the fight for financial justice

President of the British American Insurance Company Limited and Colonial Life Insurance Company Limited Policy Holders Group (BACOL), Dr. Patrick Antoine, has called on policy holders in the Eastern Caribbean to join in its journey for financial justice.

Legal action filed by BACOL at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) represents policy holders of British American Insurance Company Limited from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to a BACOL statement, the filing of the lawsuit is the culmination of years of painstaking work and a long journey that began with the formation of BACOL in 2015, “after it emerged that British American policyholders in the OECS would not be offered compensation on par with that awarded to policyholders from other CARICOM nations, following the 2009 collapse of the insurance company.”

“This is a matter that is significant to us; it’s a matter worth fighting for. Not only there is the intention on our part that the Gods will smile on us and the court will find favour in our case, in awarding us what is due as policy holders, but because our CARICOM civilization depends on us standing and saying that this matter cannot go without private parties such as policy holders standing to affirm their right and asking the court to give as it were an expression to what the treaty promises when it speaks about non-discrimination,” Dr. Antoine said.

“Do all things possible to assist us to reach every single policy holder in the Eastern Caribbean…join us in the journey to financial justice,” the BACOL Chairman pleaded.

He added, “I think for us it is really important that we engage and we ask colleagues to engage, policy workers out there in the OECS citizenry that together we can bring all of them onboard. We want to leave no one out of this approach to the court.”

Dr. Antoine revealed that an amount of just over EC$800 million is still outstanding for policy holders in the eastern Caribbean.

“We are talking about literally thousands of individual policyholders,” he stated. “Many of the entities themselves have clients or members, or customers or depositors. Then, we are talking about a large part of the OECS civilization.”

Meanwhile, attorney Gregory Pantin said the special leave application has been filed but a date has not yet been set for the hearing.

“Time is running at the moment and the next step is for the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago is to indicate its position on this special leave application and then we will hear from the court office, The Caribbean Court of Justice registry. Then the issue is with the date for this special leave application.”

He said the BACOL legal team was expecting to hear from the CCJ registry within the next week or two.

BACOL is an umbrella organization of British American Insurance Company Limited and Colonial Life Insurance Company Limited that will coordinate all the actions of the policy holders across the Eastern Caribbean. BACOL is well regulated and registered and according to the group’s management, has a “very strong board.”

Since its formation, BACOL has held consultations with aggrieved policyholders throughout the OECS, to apprise them of their rights, and to invite them to become members of BACOL, the only legally viable option to obtain fair compensation.

Currently, the only other offer of compensation to policy holders from the appointed judicial managers, is for 30 cents on the dollar. BACOL, through the CCJ and on behalf of its members, is seeking full compensation plus interest for 10 years.