Motor Insurance Association appeals judgment

THE Motor Insurance Bureau Association has appealed last month’s High Court judgment dismissing its claim for over $1 billion collected since 2008.

This levy was to be paid to victims of accidents caused by uninsured drivers. The appeal, filed in the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain on Tuesday, contends that Justice Ricky Rahim erred in ruling that such victims did not have a legitimate expectation that the relevant legislation should have been enacted to effect payout.

The judge, in a 31-page judgment, dismissed the association’s judicial review claim on government’s failure to establish a Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) based on the 2008 insurance tax levy, which car owners pay on their insurance premiums for compensating uninsured victims. Though the fund is in excess of $1 billion, the association argued that government cannot utilise the money because no rules have yet been passed in Parliament under the Finance Act to facilitate such a move. The money is in the Consolidated Fund. Rahim disagreed, saying the Exchequer, Audit and Miscellaneous Taxes Acts allow for funds to be deposited into the Consolidated Fund as revenue.

The appeal, filed by attorney Asaf Hosein, further argued that the judge erred in failing to hold that the State’s failure to establish the MIB and retention of the $1 billion were contrary to the purpose of the insurance tax levy. Another ground is that the judge’s ruling that the purpose of the insurance tax was not for compensating victims of uninsured drivers contradicted the 2008 budget proposal for the establishment of an MIB.