In He v Earthquake Commission and ors [2017] NZHC 2136 the High Court (Dunningham J) had to decide whether the damage to Mr He’s property at 377 Selwyn Street, Addington was caused by the earthquakes or not.  The judgment records that over the life of the proceeding Mr He had engaged 6 different structural engineers.  The judgment also records that the tenant of the property at the time of the earthquakes supported EQC and the insurer that the damage existed before the earthquakes.  Predictably Mr He lost.  A surprising case to run to trial.

In AMI Insurance Ltd v Legg & ors [2017] 321 the Court of Appeal upheld AMI’s appeal that it was liable to indemnify the Leggs for damage/costs from a rubbish heap fire on their Selwyn property in January 2013.  Some of the material in the heap came from the Leggs’ lifestyle block and some from a separate landscaping business run by their company Evolving Landscapes Ltd.  Legg insured the lifestyle block with AMI and ELL insured the business with Lumley.  In the High Court Nation J held both insurers liable.  Contrary to Nation J’s findings the Court of Appeal held that there was an effective causal connection between the ELL material on the heap and the resultant fire.  The Court applied the principle from Wayne Tank & Pump Co Ltd v Employers Liability Assurance Corporation Ltd [1974] 1 QB 57 that states where a loss has two effective and interdependent causes one within the policy and one excluded by it, the exclusion prevails.  The AMI policy excluded liability in connection with any business.  The ELL was an effective and interdependent cause of the fire so AMI was not liable to the Leggs.

Prattley Enterprises Ltd unsuccessfully sued Vero Insurance  to set aside a settlement agreement on insurance claims for earthquake damage to Worcester Towers.  It lost in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.  Risk Worldwide funded the litigation.  In Prattley Enterprises Ltd v Vero Insurance New Zealand Ltd [2017] NZHC 1599 the High Court (Dunningham J) awarded Vero $277,674 for legal costs and $467,571.67 for disbursements.  Vero had sought $596,508 for legal fees and $472,800.48 for disbursements.  Apparently Risk Worldwide agreed to meet the costs as the funder of the litigation.