Samsung Life Insurance Faces W10 Tril. Lawsuit
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A group of special policyholders of Samsung Life Insurance Monday filed a suit against the nation's largest insurance company for not paying dividends to eligible subscribers in the process to get listed.
The plaintiffs of 2,802 holders of policies designed to share profits with their subscribers demanded Samsung hand over10 trillion won ($8.71 billion) in dividends that they didn't pay from 1958 to 2009. This is the largest amount of compensation in Korean history to be disputed in a single litigation, court officials said.
Samsung Life is now waiting for approval from the state Financial Supervisory Service to be listed on the main bourse.
Hong Young-kyun, who represents the plaintiffs, told reporters that this was a dispute triggered as a result of Samsung's "inappropriate" denial to share profits with eligible and legitimate policyholders.
"At the time when we bought the policies, Samsung promised eligible subscribers that they would be subject to dividends," Hong said. "But they broke the promise without a proper reason, which is illegal."
According to the lawyer, an advisory committee associated with Korea Exchange advised Samsung to pay dividends to eligible subscribers ahead of the listing. But Samsung refused, calling the advice a suggestion that carried no binding force, Hong said.