Disgruntled investors in Lloyd's of London have failed in their legal claim against the British government for more than £1 billion ($1.91 billion) in compensation.
Around 1,100 investors, known as Names, said they made heavy losses at Lloyd's because the Treasury, the British finance ministry which was also the market watchdog before the Financial Services Authority, failed to regulate the insurance market properly.
In a ruling handed down today after a trial that began in July, the judge ruled that Names did not have the right under an EU directive on insurance to sue the government in a class action and that their claim for compensation had expired.
Names, who use their personal wealth to provide capital for Lloyd's underwriters to insure risks, were hit hard by the billions of dollars of losses that Lloyd's racked up in the 1990s and early 2000s, when it was rocked by huge asbestos claims and disasters such as the Piper Alpha oil platform fire.