RiskPool elect Not to Appeal Baragwanath Judgment on Waitakere Leaky Home

RiskPool, the provider of public liability and professional indemnity protection to local government authorities, today decided not to proceed with its appeal of Justice Baragwanath’s decision in the High Court in relation to Mrs Colleen Dicks.

Michael Ross, RiskPool’s chairman said, “We lodged the appeal in order to enable proper consideration of the High Court decision and to give us time to seek advice from senior legal counsel. This was received by us yesterday.

“While the decision not to proceed will leave a number of legal issues unresolved; following the legal advice we have received, we have elected to test those issues in another case,” Mr Ross said.

The Baragwanath judgment found that the principal of the building company was personally liable and that fault was apportioned 80 percent to the builder and 20 percent to the Waitakere City Council.

RiskPool fully intends to take whatever steps are reasonable to pursue the builder in the near future because ratepayers should not be subsidising deficient building practices and materials.

“We feel very sorry for Mrs Dicks and the situation she has found herself in and we trust that today’s decision provides certainty and closure for her.

However, given that all claims against local authorities are eventually borne by ratepayers, RiskPool has an obligation to seek advice and properly consider whether or not to test the issues this judgment raised. We look forward to being able to do so in a way that does not impose any unwarranted further economic suffering that Mrs Dicks may have experienced had we pursued this appeal,” Mr Ross said.

ENDS

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