Legal Actions By Equitable Life
In April 2005, in the light of Penrose's findings, Equitable started a £2B High Court action against auditors Ernst & Young, reduced 3 months later to £0.7B, claiming they had failed to inform the board of the seriousness of its position. However lawyers advised they could not prove correct advice would have changed the outcome and the case was dropped in September. Ernst & Young described the case as "ill conceived". Simultaneously it started a £3.3B claim against former directors claiming that they failed in their duties to policyholders. This claim was abandoned in December 2005, the costs of the two cases being around £40m.
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