Leaky homes class action against James Hardie filed

MEDIA RELEASE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015

Application filed to bring NZ’s first leaky homes class action against James Hardie

Today specialist litigation law firm and leaky building experts, Parker & Associates, filed an application to bring New Zealand’s first leaky homes class action, the ‘Cladding Action’, against cladding manufacturer, James Hardie.

It alleges that James Hardie was negligent in its design, manufacture and supply of the Harditex cladding system.

Lead plaintiffs are Tracey Cridge, Mark Unwin and Scott Woodhead. More than 500 potential claimants have come forward to explore eligibility and claimants are now moving quickly to officially opt into the class action. The Cladding Action was announced when the first claim was filed on August 10.

A second plaintiff class of owners of properties clad in James Hardie’s Titanboard product is also being assembled to be added to the claim.

“The response to the Cladding Action has been excellent and we are confident that a substantial group will be assembled to join this action against James Hardie,” said Dan Parker, partner at Parker & Associates.

Mr Parker said that water damage as a result of the alleged issues with Harditex is often not immediately obvious to homeowners.

The most recent lead plaintiff to join the Cladding Action, Scott Woodhead, had only just gone unconditional on his first home in August before discovering problems.

“It was my first purchase and I did due diligence by the book,” said Mr Woodhead. “The house looked in very good condition and two building reports made no mention of issues with the cladding. After speaking to my neighbour I got experts to explore the problem and was horrified to find toxic mould is present under the cladded surface. That is when I decided to join the Cladding Action.”

Parker & Associates are urging leaky home owners to investigate if Harditex cladding systems have been used in their house.

“Homeowners need to move quickly before a 31 December cut-off after which there will be a bar on claims based on acts or omissions that occurred more than 15 years ago, when many Harditex properties were built,” said Mr Parker.

“With the class action application filed today, we will be asking the Court for an opt in period allowing claimants to join, but until orders are in place we need to assume that eligible claimants need to be signed on urgently before the December date.”

“The good news is that the Court of Appeal in the recent Carter Holt judgment has ruled that a similar claim against a cladding manufacturer is not caught by the ten year Building Act limitation longstop,” said Mr Parker.*

Interested potential claimants can obtain further information by registering interest with Parker & Associates at 05084Parker or ph: 04 499 0390, www.parkerandassociates.co.nz, emailinfo@parkerandassociates.co.nz, or www.facebook.com/parkerandassoc

Notes
*Carter Holt has applied to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal that decision. It will be known in due course whether leave to appeal is given, and if so, the outcome of the appeal itself. In the meantime, Parker & Associates will be seeking orders to have the class action in place before the end of year deadline.

The group of claimants will pool resources to self-fund the Cladding Action against James Hardie without the need for separate litigation funding. James Hardie has said it will defend the claims and has recently applied to strike out the claim.

The plaintiffs are opposing that strike out application and will rely on the Court of Appeal’s decision in Carter Holt.

Since 2001 Parker & Associates has achieved recoveries for hundreds of owners of residential houses and apartments and commercial buildings. It has dealt with most of the major Wellington multi-unit claims.

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