PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday 06 November, 2013

Christchurch Red Zone couple say their pending legal action will expose the underhanded tactics of Tower Insurance 

Christchurch couple Brendan and Katie Malone believe that their pending legal action against Tower Insurance will publicly expose a litany of underhanded and questionable tactics on the part of Tower Insurance.

“We have been subjected to more than three years of delays and seriously questionable conduct on what is a fairly straightforward and relatively low cost claim” says Brendan Malone.

“We own a 3 bedroom unit, with severe damage to its concrete slab and foundations, that is sitting on some of the worst effected Red Zone land in Canterbury. The other identical unit we are attached to was condemned and declared a rebuild approximately 18 months ago by our neighbour’s insurance company.”

“Tower Insurance have engaged in all manner of underhanded conduct in order to try and avoid paying out to replace our unit” says Brendan Malone.

“When we asked Andrew Hooker to act as our lawyer, Tower Insurance contacted him and tried to stop him from representing us.”

After the ruling in the O’Loughlan v Tower court case, Tower promptly changed their proposed repair methodology for the Malone’s house, removing the very same slab repair technology that was deemed to be unacceptable by the Judge in the O’Loughlan case and replacing it with an even more substandard option.

“We think they did this because they knew that they would definitely lose once our case got to court if this same flawed slab repair technology was still on the table. The end result for us though, was an even more substandard response to our claim, and the sudden reduction of an offer, that was supposedly final, by literally tens of thousands of dollars.”

This week Tower’s lawyers sent a letter making threats about Red Quantity Surveying Limited, the QS company that the Malone’s used to provide costings for their independent engineering report.

“These threats are truly unbelievable. They claim there is a conflict of interest when there is absolutely none. It appears to be little more than a vindictive attempt to try and punish us yet again, this time by trying to force us to pay for a new QS report which will produce the exact same outcomes as the current one” says Brendan Malone.

“We have never had unrealistic expectations or asked for millions of dollars from Tower. We simply expect them to replace our unrepairable little family home as per the terms of the contract we have with them.”

“The crazy thing is that, even if they were to win, defending this legal action is going to cost Tower Insurance more money than simply replacing our home will, and that’s not even taking into account the lost revenue that will result from all the negative publicity they receive.”

Brendan and a close friend started the Rangiora Earthquake Express relief effort after the February 2011 earthquake. It was a hugely successful initiative that delivered several hundred tons of food, water and other essential items, via helicopter and road convoys, to some of the hardest hit areas of Christchurch. The Rangiora Earthquake Express received an award from the Christchurch City Council in 2012, and Brendan Malone received a Sub Area Commander’s Commendation from His Excellency Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae, on behalf of the NZ Police in Northern New Brighton, for his leadership of the Rangiora Earthquake Express.

“When I was leading the Rangiora Earthquake Express, I had no idea that an even more demanding task lay ahead. The stress of co-ordinating hundreds of volunteers, food shipments and even military aircraft that were tasked to us turned out to be child’s play compared to what we have been subjected to by Tower Insurance - the very company we are paying to supposedly safeguard our family’s interests” says Brendan Malone.

After this week’s letter from Tower Insurance the Malone’s are now contemplating a viral social media project which will bring other mistreated Christchurch Tower Insurance customers together to share their stories with the rest of NZ about the conduct of Tower Insurance.

“Social media is part of my skill set, and it was fundamental in bringing thousands of people together to facilitate the Rangiora Earthquake Express. It would seem to make sense to use it now to shine a light on the questionable conduct of Tower Insurance” says Brendan Malone.

ENDS

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