{"id":17857,"date":"2019-12-17T21:56:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T02:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/rematch-set-for-multimillion-dollar-life-insurance-fight\/"},"modified":"2019-12-17T21:56:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T02:56:16","slug":"rematch-set-for-multimillion-dollar-life-insurance-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/12\/17\/rematch-set-for-multimillion-dollar-life-insurance-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Rematch set for multimillion-dollar life insurance fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A legal fight between three of the country\u2019s largest insurance companies and a group of investors that was settled in March as the Saskatchewan government quietly changed regulations to protect the industry is getting a second life in the province\u2019s appeals court.<\/p>\n

As reported by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix<\/em>, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal is set to hear three closely related cases whose outcome will determine whether investors have the right to put as much money as they please into universal life insurance policies that offer a guaranteed rate of return through so-called \u201cside accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a decision handed down last March, Court of Queen\u2019s Bench Justice Brian Scherman \u2026 ruled that the 20-plus-year-old policies could not be used for \u2018unlimited stand-alone investment opportunities,\u2019\u201d the publication said.<\/p>\n

The legal battle revolved around a loophole used by the investors, which a set of regulations passed by cabinet in October 2018 was meant to close. But in his decision, Scherman found that the regulations were not \u201cdeclaratory\u201d of the law, meaning that the new regulations could not be applied retroactively.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs expected, the investors and the companies \u2014 Manulife, BMO Life Assurance Co. and Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. \u2014 filed appeals and cross-appeals in the case,\u201d the StarPhoenix reported, noting that legal arguments are set to be heard over three days starting on January 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that without any express contractual limitation the contract permits funds to be deposited into the contract to be invested for an indefinite period of time,\u201d said the investors, who want the province\u2019s top court to overturn Scherman\u2019s interpretation of the contracts.<\/p>\n

Scherman\u2019s ruling focused on the meaning of the word \u201cpremiums\u201d as noted in the contracts\u2019 original language. In his March decision, he said the contracts and term would not be taken by a layperson to mean \u201cunlimited investment opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their part, the companies support Scherman\u2019s ruling on the contracts, as they contend that a ruling in the alternative could bankrupt them. But as stated in Manulife\u2019s factum filed with the court, they maintain that \u201cconfining the regulations only to future policies would defeat their remedial object, by excluding the only policies to have ever posed the mischief to which the regulations relate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investors, meanwhile, argue in their court filings that the province\u2019s regulatory change \u201cdoes not purport to clarify the proper interpretation of the contract,\u201d but rather sets a new standard for future contracts.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Saskatchewan Attorney General Don Morgan said that New Brunswick decided to make amendments on the issue of side accounts \u201cfor the safety of policy holders,\u201d adding that the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority \u201chas heard from industry that some other provinces have indicated that they are considering moving in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the original article at https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/rss\/ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A legal fight between three of the country\u2019s largest insurance companies and a group of investors that was settled in March as the Saskatchewan government quietly changed regulations to protect the industry is getting...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}