The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has ruled that a proposed $2.5-billion class action against insurance giant Sun Life Assurance Co. over the alleged miss-selling of certain universal life policies by predecessor Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. can go ahead.
The SCC issued a ruling on Thursday denying Sun Life leave to appeal a ruling by the Court of Appeal for Ontario on Sept. 5, 2018, which certified the suit as a class action. The application for leave was dismissed with costs.
The proposed class action was launched in 2010 alleging various breaches in the sale of 230,000 life insurance policies by MetLife between 1985 and 1998.
Sun Life took over administration of the policies when it acquired Clarica Life Insurance Co. in 2002; Clarica bought MetLife’s Canadian operations in 1998.
Initially, a lower court ruled that the proposed suit could not be certified as a class action because most of its claims were time-barred. However, that ruling was reversed on appeal last year.
The appeal court certified three alleged breach of contract claims related to the policies. Now, the SCC has rejected Sun Life’s bid to appeal that decision.
The allegations have not been proven.