Couple whose quake repairs were botched won't get interest on damages

Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Alan and Joan Sleight have won a court case over poor earthquake repairs to their Christchurch home. (Video first published in November 2020)

A retired Christchurch couple who won a drawn-out battle against their insurer over bungled quake repairs will not get paid interest on the damages.

Alan and Joan Sleight were awarded $389,848 by the High Court to repair their house to the policy standard of “when new”.

In March 2021, the court again found in their favour, awarding them a further $388,780* in costs .

High Court Justice David Gendall* said awarding interest dating back to 2015 on the damages was a matter of fairness and principle, and was to compensate the Sleights for delayed payment.

* Couple's half-million dollar win over insurers IAG may be bittersweet

* Would EQC and the insurers do better, if a Canterbury quakes-sized natural disaster happened tomorrow?

Retired plumber Alan Sleight and retired nurse Joan Sleight, photographed in November 2020.

Their insurer, IAG New Zealand, appealed the order to pay interest. The Court of Appeal, in a judgment released on Wednesday, quashed the decision to award interest.

The couple’s Hillmorton home was damaged in the September 2010 and February 2011 earthquakes, and they claimed on their insurance policy with IAG.

The insurers appointed Hawkins Management Ltd and builders Farrell Residential Ltd to carry out the repairs, but there were “numerous defects” in the work.

In 2017, the Sleights issued court proceedings and sued IAG New Zealand, the repairer, the project manager monitoring the repairs, and the project manager’s insurance company.

IAG earlier described the Sleight’s lawsuit as a “test case”, being the first to determine whether the insurer was liable for defective work done by builders under its managed repair scheme.

*CORRECTIONS: The original version of this story incorrectly said IAG had been granted leave to appeal an order to pay the Sleights for botched quake repairs. IAG did not appeal that substantive decision. Its appeals related to paying the couple interest on the awarded damages and also the judge’s refusal to allow all of its indemnity claim against the project manager. In March 2021, the Sleights were awarded $388,780 in costs not $480,000, as earlier reporter. The case was heard by Justice David Gendall, not his brother Justice Warwick Gendall, as stated in an earlier version of the story. (Amended May 26, 10am and again at 6.30pm)