The UK Supreme Court has declined STM’s bid to appeal the Adams v Carey case, which has been ongoing since 2018.
The split ruling in the court of appeal in April 2021 ordered the pension firm – now Options UK – to pay compensation to the former client.
But the cross-border financial services provider decided to take the case to the Supreme Court, as it was not given permission to appeal the last ruling. This has now failed as the UK’s highest court has rejected STM’s request.
The firm said: “The original case was heard in March 2018 and relates to an investment made in 2012, prior to STM’s acquisition of Carey UK Pensions in February 2019.
“A condition of the acquisition was the indemnity on any claims in the Adams v Carey case, with the benefit of significant existing professional indemnity cover held by the vendors.
“The decision therefore does not directly impact STM’s exposure in this case, but it will have implications for the financial services industry more broadly.”
The case
The client, Mr Adams, first sued Carey Pensions in 2018 after suffering losses in investments made through his Sipp.
He had been introduced to the pension firm by an unregulated introducer and agreed to transfer his funds from an existing pension into a Carey Sipp, which was administered by the company.
Adams then instructed the provider to purchase a number of storage units from Store First through his Sipp, which Carey did on an “execution only basis” since it did not provide financial advice.
But when the investments did not prove successful, Adams brought a claim against Carey seeking compensation.
The four-year long saga ended with Carey being ordered to compensate the former client as it does not have any other avenue to appeal the ruling further.
It is not known how much Adams will be paid in redress as the court of appeal in April 2021 decided that the sum will be determined in a separate court hearing.
