A class action filed against Southern Response was ended by the High Court on Dec 17, upon request of the plaintiffs Christchurch couple Brendan and Colleen Ross.
The suit was filed by the Ross family after a court found that Southern Response, which was created to settle claims from the Canterbury earthquakes, had underpaid another couple, Karl and Allison Dodds.
The plaintiffs had reached an agreement with Southern Response several weeks ago and asked the High Court to drop the class action, which covered around 3,000 policyholders with an average claim of $100,000.
Following the dropping of the suit, claimant advocate David Townshend urged over 1,700 claimants that have yet to apply for compensation from Southern Response to do so.
According to Townshend, one couple thought they were entitled to around $3,000 and weren’t keen on registering for compensation. However, when they did, they ended up with more than $100,000 in compensation.
This, Townshend said, showed how much people were “essentially ripped off” by Southern Response.
“We must acknowledge those who have gone before, especially Karl and Alison Dodds, who have paved the way for so many others to get what they are entitled to,” he said.
In response to the termination of the Ross Class Action (RCA), lawyer Peter Woods, from law firm Anthony Harper, said the development was “great news”, especially for the around 2,700 homeowners who had not signed up for the RCA.
“The RCA’s lawyers and funder had claimed these homeowners, who had not signed up to the RCA, should still pay 15% of their compensation ($15,000 on average) to them,” Woods said. “That claim was being appealed by the RCA and there would have been long delays as the appeal went through the courts. This judgement stops the appeals, and there is now no doubt that homeowners have no liability to the RCA’s lawyers and litigation funder.”
