Word: lloyds
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That decision may yet be appealed, but for now the 300-year-old institution is happy to put behind it a damaging two decades of turmoil and litigation that brought predictions of its imminent collapse in the 1980s. Earlier this year Lloyd's found itself dragged into court by a group of its investors--the so-called Names, who pledge all their personal wealth to underwrite insurance policies issued by Lloyd's syndicates--claiming they were the victims of one of the great swindles of the 20th century. As TIME recounted in a special report last February, the Names said...
...both sides in the trial the stakes were high. For the Names it was a last-ditch effort to prevent Lloyd's from extracting some $75 million it claimed was still owed in underwriting losses. These "dissident" Names are what remains of an investors' rebellion against Lloyd's cash calls in the late '80s and early '90s as the asbestos and other losses totaling $12 billion started feeding into the system. Back in 1996, 95% of Lloyd's 34,000 Names agreed to a settlement offered by Lloyd's called Reconstruction and Renewal (R&R), which enabled them...
...stakes for Lloyd's were just as high. In the three centuries since it was founded in Edward Lloyd's Thames-side coffee house, Lloyd's has operated under the watchword "utmost good faith." Were it to be found to have engaged in fraud, even in the semi-distant past, its credibility would be undermined and along with it a premier position in a business where confidence--summed up in the Lloyd's motto Fidentia--is an essential ingredient...
Last Friday morning, rumors that Lloyd's had won the trial swirled through the corridors of England's Royal Courts of Justice long before the dissident Names trooped in to learn their fate. Despite Lloyd's legal army, the Names believed their side had clearly demonstrated fraud at Lloyd's the institution, as opposed to the syndicates. In court it also emerged that many Names had been ill-served by negligent syndicates. But they failed to prove to the satisfaction of the judge that Lloyd's itself had committed fraud. More specifically the judge rejected the allegation that Lloyd...
...decision as a typical example of the Establishment protecting itself. Others, including Sir William Jaffray, who lent his name to the trial, will seek to battle on. They are emboldened by the recent entry into force of the European Convention on Human Rights, which they claim allows Lloyd's to be sued for negligence in lieu of fraud. "It's a severe setback for the Names," Jaffray said after the trial, "but it in no way exonerates Lloyd's. Nobody reading the judgment will be able to trust or do business with Lloyd's again...