Thousands of people are making insurance claims after heavy rain and flooding in the north of New Zealand, especially in Auckland. Insurance lawyer Peter Woods has worked on property claims for earthquake damage in Canterbury and Marlborough.. He has also been an Independent Specialist Adviser to the government. Peter talks to Lisa Owen.
A Christchurch insurance advocate says the new Canterbury Earthquake Insurance Tribunal may finally be the solution to get unresolved claims from the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes settled. The government has launched an earthquake insurance tribunal to try to finally resolve outstanding insurance claims from the Canterbury earthquakes. Dean Lester, who acts as a insurance claim preparer in Christchurch, told our reporter Rachel Graham the tribunal will have the power to get on and make a decision on the key sticking points, without people facing the huge cost of a high court trial.
Overlapping claims and general confusion are delaying money payable to New Zealand for damage from the Canterbury earthquakes. The money involved is payable through reinsurance schemes taken out by insurance companies in this country, with firms overseas.
Official figures show the Christchurch City Council's legal bill to settle its earthquake insurance claims is sitting at nine million dollars, and climbing.
The insurance company, Tower, has strongly criticised the time it's taking to settle Canterbury earthquake claims and says the insurance system for handling such disasters is broken.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister and the Insurance Council both deny that insurance companies pressured the Government to relax building guidelines in Canterbury.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says he's sick of insurance companies giving baseless excuses for delaying earthquake claims in Christchurch .
The Insurance Council has shot down criticism the industry may be delaying earthquake claims for financial gain.
Christchurch homeowner Bob Burnett says lengthy delays in resolving his earthquake insurance claim is destroying his finances and affecting his kids' health. He's calling for a Royal Commission into the conduct of the insurance sector.
Christchurch woman Pam Sharpe has endured earthquakes, fires and dealing with insurance companies, but then she received a parking ticket. She tells Checkpoint what happened next.
The insurance arms of Suncorp New Zealand have reported lower profits off the back of the Kaikoura earthquake and a rise in Canterbury earthquake claims. .
Those displaced or affected by the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle can get help with insurance claims through a new service from today. The Government has launched the New Zealand Claims Resolution Service for homeowners to resolve issues and settle claims. The service is modelled on two that were used during the Canterbury earthquakes. Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Duncan Webb spoke to Guyon Espiner.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says he's lost patience with the private insurance industry over delays in settling quake related claims.
Listed general insurance company Tower has reported a bigger first half loss on lingering Canterbury earthquake claims and a write down in its computer systrems.
A group of angry Christchurch locals are considering legal action against one of the country's biggest insurance companies because they say their earthquake claims are taking too long to settle.
Shares in the insurance company, Tower, have plunged close to 20 percent today after it said its profits will likely fall more than 16-million dollars because of Canterbury earthquake claims.
Mounting claims from the Christchurch earthquake have forced AMI insurance to go to the Government for a possible bailout.
A Christchurch couple in a long running dispute over the insurance payout for their earthquake damaged home have reached an out-of-court settlement with Southern Response. The class action was brought on behalf of former AMI Insurance/Southern Response policyholders who believe the company misled them into settling their claims for less than their policies entitled them to. The lawyer for Brendan and Colleen Ross, Grant Cameron, talks to Max Towle about the settlement.
Three years on from the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake hundreds of businesses are still waiting for their insurance claims to be settled.
Insurance company, Tower, says it's started the year on a positive note despite bad weather and lingering complex claims from the Christchurch earthquakes.
A Christchurch man has begun a hunger strike over an earthquake insurance claim. Fonterra changes its policy and promises to pay bills more promptly.
A Canterbury woman has finally settled an insurance claim seven years to the day her family home was damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
The Insurance Council says it can give Cantabrians a guarantee that insurers will go as fast as they can to settle earthquake-related claims.
Frustrated Christchurch residents are banding together to take on their insurance companies, who they say are taking too long to process their earthquake damage claims.
Nearly seven years on from the Christchurch earthquake, some quake damaged homeowners with unresolved insurance claims say they are being driven to the point of complete exhaustion.
The Christchurch couple taking their insurance company to the High Court over their earthquake payout have knocked almost a quarter of a million dollars off their claim.
A Christchurch earthquake insurance specialist says a critical report of the Earthquake Commission is a good start but doesn't go far enough. The report by an independent ministerial advisor says EQC staff have no confidence in their own data, and that the organisation needs to dramatically improve the way it communicates with claimants. The advisor, Christine Stevenson, said EQC was unable even to tell her how many claims it's still dealing with from the Canterbury earthquakes. Dean Lester is a Christchurch insurance advocate and claims preparer. He talks to Susie Ferguson.
The Earthquake Commission and the Insurance Council are going to the High Court for a ruling on who's responsible for 10-thousand claims from the earlier Canterbury earthquakes.
The insurance company, Tower, is confident that putting its costly and complex outstanding Canterbury earthquake claims into a separate company will allow the rest of the group to flourish.
The government is hoping a new one-stop shop will help homeowners in Canterbury still struggling with insurance claims, but as Logan Church reports, this isn't the first initiative of its kind in the quake-rattled city.