Building a case on quake’s CTV ruins
Families of the 115 people killed when the CTV building collapsed may know before Christmas if there is any hope of reopening disciplinary proceedings against the engineer whose firm designed the building’s structure.
Dr Alan Reay might only have faced a maximum penalty of $5000 if the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) had continued investigating him, but a spokesman for some of the families says accountability and public safety are at issue.
Dr Maan Alkaisi, whose wife was killed in the CTV building collapse in 2011, has been campaigning for accountability over the engineering of the building.
Before a hearing began at the High Court in Wellington on Monday he said it was important to test the IPENZ mandate to discipline one of their members, even after the member resigned.
When the hearing ended yesterday, Justice David Collins said he hoped to get his decision out before Christmas.
Reay’s firm developed the structural design for the 1986 CTV building that collapsed after the Canterbury earthquake on February 22, 2011.
A lawyer for Reay said IPENZ had been following legal advice when it dismissed a complaint against Reay who had resigned from the voluntary organisation, while its committee was investigating the complaint.
The IPENZ legal advice came from Pheroze Jagose, who is now a High Court judge.
Reay’s lawyer, Willie Palmer, said both IPENZ and Reay thought the resignation in February, 2014, brought the disciplinary process to an end. Reay resigned over concerns about natural justice, not to ‘‘escape’’ the disciplinary process, Palmer said.
Jagose’s advice to IPENZ was that the disciplinary process could only apply to someone who was a member at the time of the actions being complained about, and remained a member until the end of the disciplinary process.
The harshest penalty IPENZ could have imposed was $5000, even if Reay had still been a member. It could not impose any penalty or enforce a fine or recover costs from a former member, Palmer said.
The attorney-general has asked the High Court to review the decision to dismiss professional disciplinary proceedings against Reay.
If the judge agreed the complaint did not have to be dismissed, it would be up to IPENZ to decide what happened next, the attorney-general’s lawyer, Ken Stephen, said.
The attorney-general’s main point was that Reay should not escape the consequences by resigning.
The building collapse was considered by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission, which made findings against Reay and his company about the design and for having pressured the Christchurch City Council to approve the design, Stephen said.
IPENZ issued a disciplinary decision against the engineer more directly involved with the CTV design, David Harding.
He had also resigned from IPENZ but later in the disciplinary process than Reay. The IPENZ disciplinary committee made findings against him and published its decision.