After being placed into receivership by the Insurance Commission in the Philippines and then ordered into liquidation, Prudentialife insurance company made a bid to force the proceedings into mediation in order to buy itself more time to come up with a financial rehabilitation plan.  The Court of Appeals in Manila, however, has denied the motion, leaving the troubled insurer with few options.

The Insurance Commission (IC) originally placed Prudentialife into receivership due to financial instability in September of 2012.  When the company failed to submit an acceptable rehabilitation plan within 30 days, the IC ordered the company to be liquidated, which sparked a flurry of legal action by the company in an effort to forestall the end.  The most recent effort to force mediation was denied in part because the Court of Appeals itself has rules preventing any cases involving pending applications for restraining orders or preliminary injunctions to be passed into mediation.

The Court also took into account the fact that the IC had rejected mediation and had stated it would not participate, rendering the process doomed from the start.  This, combined with its own rules, made Prudentialife’s petition little more than a “Hail Mary” move.

The Court’s decision leaves the way clear for the IC to implement its liquidation plans for Prudentialife, meaning the insurer will likely be shut down and its assets sold while its remaining customers are referred to other insurance companies that will agree to take on their existing policies or offer them equitable replacement policies.