For Whom The Bell Tolls

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The judge indeed handed down some harsh words. Despite all the Lloyd's reforms in the past, he said, "the catalog of failings and incompetence in the 1980s by underwriters, managing agents, members' agents and others...is staggering (and brought disgrace on one of the City's great markets)." Assessing the tactics employed to recruit Names to syndicates in the mid- to late '80s, he said it was "strongly arguable" that the advice they received was "at best grossly negligent."

Names with no stomach for further court action may take comfort from the judge's assertion that it was "high time" litigation in Britain and elsewhere ceased and exhorted Lloyd's itself to seek a "fair, overall settlement" with the dissidents--hammered out perhaps by an independent panel. Lloyd's, still wallowing in red ink (according to market estimates, losses could total as much as $4.5 billion for 1998-2000), has yet to respond. The refuseniks for their part are hoping for a deus ex machina in the form of criminal proceedings launched by U.S. government prosecutors who have been investigating possible mail fraud involving Lloyd's. But Lloyd's remains confident that the arguments that won the case last week will triumph in the future.