Disputes Tribunal throws out $5k damages claim raised after cyclone blows shed into car

Cyclone Dovi 's strong winds caused damage to cars around the country. Photo / NZME

A court has thrown out an almost $5000 claim after a car was damaged when a shed was blown into it during Cyclone Dovi.

The cyclone lashed much of the North Island with wind and rain in February, causing power outages in Auckland and resulting in the most rainfall recorded in Wellington in more than 80 years.

Trees blew over and cars and homes around the country were damaged, but one woman blamed the damage to her own vehicle on her neighbour.

A Disputes Tribunal decision released today details how the woman - whose name and location was redacted - claimed her neighbour had been negligent in securing his garden shed, leading to it being ripped free from its platform and blown into her car from across the road.

In order to have been successful at the tribunal, which deals with civil disputes between people in an informal court setting, and without lawyers, the woman would have needed to prove that a duty of care had been breached and that the incident was “foreseeable”.

Referee Paulette Goddard said the effects of the cyclone were widely reported at the time and left homeowners and council workers in turmoil.

She said the neighbour had a duty of care to make sure his shed was securely fixed to his property and wouldn’t blow away in the event of a storm.

In his evidence to the tribunal the man said he’d purchased the shed four years earlier and secured it to a timber floor with 75mm screws which exceeded the manufacturer’s specifications.

Ultimately, Goddard found that he’d taken all reasonable steps to ensure his shed was secured properly, and there was nothing he could do about an “act of God”.

“I find there is insufficient evidence that (the man) acted negligently concurrently with the act of God, or that he could have reasonably anticipated, guarded against and foreseen the act of God.”

She dismissed the woman’s claim for almost $5000 in damages.