Crown reviewing Supreme Court ruling

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the Crown is reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision, released this morning, on the appeal taken by a group of vacant, commercial and uninsured Christchurch landowners calling themselves the ‘Quake Outcasts,’ and commercial property developer Fowler Developments Limited.

“Crown Law and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) will need to review today’s judgment and assess what steps are required.

“In December 2013 the Court of Appeal directed the CERA chief executive to make new offers to the owners of vacant, commercial and uninsured land in the residential red zone with specific reference to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011, and the chief executive was in the process of considering what those offers would be when the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has today reinforced the Appeal Court’s view that the CERA chief executive must reconsider the offers, and that in doing so a number of issues must be considered.

“I won’t be making any further comment on this matter until the Supreme Court’s judgment has been considered and advice is received,” Mr Brownlee says.