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Justice Kos reflects on the 5 years since the Christchrurch Quakes

His Honour Justice Kos gave a speech to the Supreme & Federal Courts Judges Conference, Brisbane, On 26 January 2016. The Paper is titled DISASTER & RESILIENCE The Canterbury earthquakes & their legal aftermath. Justice Kos sat on the Earthquake list until he was elevated to the Court of Appeal last year and also adjudicated a number of important cases. I thoroughly recommend a read. DISASTER & RESILIENCE...

Insurance Claims in New Zealand is a new publication by Paul Michalik and Chris Boys

Insurance Claims in New Zealand is a new publication by Paul Michalik and I. The focus of the book is on the sharp-end of insurance; claims. Rather than creating a New Zealand version of the big English tomes which are comprehensive, academic and aimed at specialists, we have tried to make the the book approachable by anyone working in the area. This might include; brokers and advisers, general practice lawyers, insurance company claims handlers, or anyone who needs to understand what should hap...

Four years later - where are things at?

It's now over four years since the Lyttleton quake. With each year insurers and EQC have set targets, mostly these have been missed. There have been a number of judgments out of the Courts, some of which are useful to insureds, some less so. There are still over 200 unresolved cases on the EQ List. I have another 2 or three which are likely to be added in the next few months. It is of great concern that one insurer in particular, is massively over-represented in the number of cases it is defendi...

State EQ settlements - don't sign your rights away

I'm working with clients who are in the process of settling their EQ claims with State. To finalise the process the clients have been asked to sign a deed of transfer which gives all the benefits of their EQC claims, both for the land and for the house, to State.  As you may know EQC insure land and dwellings separately. EQC generally (ie 100% of the time in cases that I've seen) settle on the loss of value caused by the land damage. They do this by taking a pr...

Scarfies and Insurance

You may have seen a new story about uninsured students and the risk of liability for damage to their flats; http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2584002 and http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11193961 These stories highlight that students may not be covered if they, or their flatmates, are negligent and this causes a fire, flood or other damage to their flats, or the loss of their contents in a fire or theft. The byline is that you need insuran...

Broken crockery and expensive insurance

Two news stories have caught my attention lately which show the importance of being active with your insurance, whether it's your business insurance, or your home, car and contents. This first is about insurers profiting from people being inactive with reviewing their policies each year. The gist is that motor vehicle claims costs have gone down relative to the cost of insuring a car. The reason for this is largely that there is a lack of competitive pressure, because people just let their p...

Court update # 1 - Rout

The outcomes from the Rout case are a mixed bag for claimants. The Routs won a substantially increased settlement from what Southern Response originally offered, but not the cost of replacing their home on its existing, damaged, red zoned, Brooklands site. Justice Gendall ruled on several issues which have wide importance to other EQ claims. They are: 1.What repairs are legally necessary for homes in flood prone areas? 2.Where does the line between a repairable home and a total loss lie? ...

Risky business - insurance, earthquakes and the law.

EQC is broken and needs to be rebuilt. You’ve heard this from quake affected people in the past. Is it true or are they complaining about the inevitable? After all EQC is doing something unprecedented, the situation is complex and overwhelming, so some complaints and conflict are to be expected, right? Let’s look at the facts. The first Canterbury earthquake occurred over three years ago. In February it will be three years since the second, but the rebuild has barely begun. EQC admitted ...

Experts, earthquakes lawyers and independence. It's just not cricket.

Most people think that litigation is some sort of gentile form of cricket, elegant and sporting, but usually it's nasty and brutal. The only things that stop most cases from descending into open warfare are the rules of court. Not knowing the rules or the way the game is played puts you at a real disadvantage. Your chances of winning a case double when you get a good lawyer to champion your cause. If the amount of money at stake is substantial and you aren’t legally represented you need to ...