Mansion owner loses court battle
The owner of a Christchurch mansion wrecked by the earthquakes has lost his fight for a bigger payout after his insurance policy listed the wrong floor size.
The Supreme Court has ruled that owner Paul Myall cannot appeal an earlier decision in favour of Tower Insurance.
Myall owned the historic Riverlaw mansion in Aynsley Tce, Hillsborough, which would have cost an estimated $6.3 million to rebuild. Myall’s payout was just under $3m.
The homestead was demolished in 2012 and he has now put the land up for sale, after owning the property for 15 years.
Tower Insurance must pay for only 80 per cent of Christchurch heritage home rebuild, court rules The High Court ruled last year in favour of Tower’s calculation of the insurance payout as a percentage of the replacement value. There was also a Court of Appeal hearing on some aspects of the case.
The policy had incorrectly recorded the 799-square-metre floor area as 650sqm.
Myall’s new bid for appeal was based on how the rebuild cost should be adjusted for the smaller insured floor area, and how the necessary professional fees should be calculated.
Matters of dispute at the earlier hearings – including construction method and materials, the contractor’s margin and a contingency sum – were not part of the appeal bid.
The three-storey, eightbedroom, six-bathroom brick home, built in the late 19th century, was on just under 0.8 hectares on Aynsley Tce. Built by Member of Parliament Hugh Percy Murray-Aynsley, it was considered one of the city’s finest homes.
The Supreme Court decision said Tower was liable for what it would cost to rebuild the house to ‘‘the same condition and extent as when new and up to the same area as shown in the certificate of insurance’’.
While some errors had been made in the previous rulings from both the High and Appeal courts, Myall could not appeal the decision on how Tower’s liability had been calculated, the Supreme Court said.