For some time, we have been predicting another wave of
litigation, specifically claims against professionals, arising out
of the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Unfortunately, our
predictions seem to be coming to fruition.
Why are we seeing an increase in EQ related liability
claims?
In July 2019, the Supreme Court confirmed (Xu v IAG New
Zealand Ltd [2019] NZSC 68) that EQ claim assignees are only
entitled to be indemnified under the assigned claim. This means
that assignees of house claims are only compensated for their
actual loss; usually the reduction in market value of the property
due to the EQ damage or depreciated replacement or repair costs,
which allows for the age and condition of the property. (The
recovery on assigned claims will often be dependent on the age of
the property with less depreciation applying to newer properties,
so assignments are still advisable.) This can leave new homeowners
out of pocket, with no access to EQC or the original
