According to the Equitable Members Action Group, Equitable Life's legal bill is likely to be over £40 million, which is £10 million more than the society has publicly stated.
The company, which previously made a claim of £3.7 billion against former auditor Ernst & Young, and a £1 billion claim against 11 former directors, are now arguing about who will pay the legal costs of the 9 former directors after this week, dropping its claim against another former chief executive.
Eight of the former directors are represented by Allen & Overy on a no- win, no-fee basis, which means that they are unlikely to agree to pay their own costs.
Our view
As ever, the only people likley to win are lawyers and the only people likely to lose out are policyholders.
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