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in Beca Carter v Wellington City Council [2024] NZSC 117 the Supreme Court decided that the 10 year limitation period under s393(2) Building Act 2024 did not apply to a claim for contribution under s17(1)(c) Law Reform Act 1936. So, WCC was entitled to seek contribution from Beca Carter to the claim brought against the WCC by the BNZ about damage to its building in the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016.
On 16 July 2024 Grant Shand commenced proceedings in the Napier High Court against the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for damage caused in the flooding on 26 June 2024 that damaged about 500 properties. Here is the website with information about the claim. The intent is for this to be an opt out class action. People who are insured for the loss and damage will need to check their policy wording to establish whether the insurer may have rights to bring proceedings and give notices in any class action.
After the extreme weather events in 2023 the Auckland Council established a process for categorising properties for eligibility to council compensation/buy outs. It is a voluntary process where homeowners must complete a registration form by 30 September 2024. It appears that process is slow. Here is the 9 may 2024 Council update. A total of 1307 homes have received a final property categorisation with 405 classed as Category 3 and eligible for a buy-out (as of 9 May). 210 Category 3 homeowners had received or accepted a buy-out offer, and 63 properties had completed their sale and purchase agreements (as of 3 May). Overall, 2812 property owners have registered for […]
The High Court (Paulsen AJ) on 24 April 2024 in Freer & anor v EQC [2024] NZHC 912 granted both parties leave to appeal his previous judgments about certification of the class action. The homeowners, Freer & McEvedy, seek to enlarge the class to include IFV people and non-current owners; whereas EQC wants to avoid any class action. Hopefully the appeal is resolved within 12 months.
In the EQC on sold class action Mathias v EQC the High Court fixed the date for people to lodge a notice with the Court opting into the class action as 5pm on 22 September 2023. Some people lodged notices after the deadline. EQC opposed the late notice people being part of the class. In Mathias v EQC [2024] NZHC 533 the High Court (Lester AJ) dismissed the EQC opposition and extended the opt in date to the date that each individual notice was received by the Court. The extension of time was done under rule 1.19 of the High Court Rules as being in the interests of justice.
