A homeowners group has called on insurers to ‘step up’ and engage with the determination process offered by the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service (GCCRS), as there is still a reluctance from private insurers to participate in the out-of-court process to settle disputes.
The Homeowners Advisory Group (HOAG) chair Tom McBrearty said that while insurers have “engaged widely” with the GCCRS, many private insurers are refusing to be involved in the determination process it offers, and are therefore drawing out disputes for homeowners over a decade after the devastating 2011 earthquakes.
He said that while Southern Response and EQC have engaged with the process, private insurers have been much less willing to do so.
“The insurer participation overall has been very good, but they seem reluctant to hit that determination process,” McBrearty said.
“That could be because they feel compromised, or perhaps we need to do some education with them around the process and reasoning behind it. It’s certainly cost effective and it’s not as intimidating as the court process.”
“In many cases, there is a lot of communication between the lawyers, claimants and insurance companies, and it’s quite litigious in the way it works,” he explained.
“The determination process reduces that to a more clearly defined approach, so we would like to be able to explain that process more clearly to them. Those who have gone through it have generally been reasonably happy with the outcome on both sides - there have been some who were unhappy, but the split is about the same as it is in the courts. That indicates to me that it’s a reasonable even-handed approach.”
The determination process is similar to a mediation, and involves a group of 4-5 people who look at the story on both the insurer and claimant side, and then make a determination. The resulting decision is binding.
McBrearty said that claims can be heard by the determination process and a decision made within just one month, making it less stressful, time consuming and costly for both parties, and he said the HOAG doesn’t understand why insurers would want to reduce the options available to homeowners to resolve their claims.
“After several years for some, it’s not exactly a pleasant process to drag on,” he said.
“I think the determination and tribunal process may sit at the centre of any major disaster in the future, partly to save time and cost.
“We are calling on the private insurers to step up, show good faith and enable claimants to access this process at GCCRS, if claimants wish to.”
