The Caribbean Court of Justice has ruled that Trinidad and Tobago did not breach its obligations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in bailing out CLICO.

The application was brought by Ellis Richards, Spencer Thomas, The Medical Benefits Board and Others.

The Claimants were Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada nationals, all policyholders of British American Insurance Company Limited (BAICO), a subsidiary of CL Financial.

They claimed that while local policyholders were protected when T&T’s Government bailed out CL Financial, they were only able to recoup about 14% through the liquidation of BAICO.

They went on to contend that this was discrimination on the grounds of nationality and a breach of the RTC.

In a summary of its ruling, the CCJ said Chapter Eight of the RTC does not create liability for individual Member States of the Community.

It adds that, as noted by CARICOM, the RTC does not contain language which obliges Member States to provide mechanisms to facilitate the extra-territorial reach of its legislative/political/judicial decisions to other Member States.

As such it said, “The Court agreed with Counsel that the State of Trinidad and Tobago could not have assumed control of BAICO by way of amendments to the Central Bank Act to guarantee that BAICO policyholders and/or depositors were afforded remedies in the aftermath of CLF’s collapse. To do so would have been, in the absence of regional agreement, contrary to the spirit of cooperation among CARICOM Member States.”

It went on to say, “The Court then considered whether there was a breach of Article 7 of the Treaty. The Court stated that Article 7 is not a free-standing provision whose breach may give rise to a claim at large. Any allegation of a breach of Article 7 must be accompanied by and must point to a Treaty right in respect of which the Claimant must prove discrimination in the enjoyment of the right, and that discrimination in question must be based on nationality only. The Court considered there was no obligation to extend any relief to institutions outside of the Defendant Member State and, therefore, no right for the Claimants to obtain the relief they sought.”