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22 July 2022

Update for Southern Response Claimants

In the 2020 case Southern Response Earthquake Services v Dodds [2020] NZCA 395, the Court of Appeal ruled that Southern Response (SR) had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when undertaking insurance settlements prior to October 2014. The problem was that SR provided claimants with one copy of a Detailed Repair Analysis (DRA), which covered scoping and estimated repairs for a claimant’s property, but they privately retained a more extensive version of each claimant’s DRA which contained further costs. In Dodds, the Court of Appeal ruled that the claimants were entitled to these costs.

 

The Government then established a compensation scheme where eligible policyholders can claim the costs which were excluded from their settlements. The compensation packages have been steadily rolling out since 2021, and our clients have made significant recoveries of the funds which should have been paid in 2014, plus interest.   

 

You may be entitled to compensation if you:

 

  • Owned a house insured by AMI and made an insurance claim for damage to the property arising from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence
  • Settled your insurance claim with AMI or Southern Response between 10 September and 1 October 2014
  • Cash Settled your claim with Southern Response (as opposed to Southern Response managing the repair or rebuild of your home

 

You can check your eligibility here.  

 

Contact Jessica Manson, Abi Borrows or Sam McLean in our Insurance Team for assistance in settling with Southern Response. In most cases, Southern Response will also provide compensation to cover your legal fees.