Final Manulife fight

A bitter final court battle is unfolding as thousands of Barbadians make a last-ditch bid for $156 million in compensation from their former insurer, Canadian company Manulife.
While lawyers representing the group led by former supervisor of insurance Wismar Greaves will start arguing their appeal in the Ontario Court of Appeal on December 2, already they are accusing Manulife of a “retelling of the facts” more than a year after trial judge Frank Newbould dismissed the original class action suit.
But in response to what it called as an “absurd” and “ill-conceived” appeal, Manulife has vowed not to go down without a fight.
It says the Barbadians are being greedy and want an undeserved “windfall” even though they received a $7.2 million compensation dividend, and that even if its 8 000 former policyholders are victorious on their second try, their collective damages should not exceed $1.8 million.