Judge hears competing views on slip damage to property

The High Court in Whanganui is hearing the case between Mark and Nichola Goodier, the EQC and insurance company IAG. Photo / Bevan Conley

Insurance lawyer Grant Shand is putting up a series of witnesses during a High Court trial in Whanganui to support claims Mark and Nichola Goodier's house was damaged when their Bastia Hill section slipped in 2015.

Mark Goodier was first on the stand and was there for several hours on Monday. He was followed today by Tony Hore and another friend of the Goodiers.

A large slip on the Goodiers' section took out the driveway and partially undermined the garage on June 20, 2015. Their house was "red-stickered" by Whanganui District Council, and they cannot live in it until work has been consented and done.

The Earthquake Commision (EQC) has offered a total of $136,000 in compensation - $38,000 for house and garage and $98,500 for land. It decided the house was relatively undamaged and the garage at risk of further slumping.

It will take at least $300,000 to fully repair the land.

Asked detailed questions about geotechnical and other reports on the property, Goodier said he had not given them his full attention.

"Me and my wife have suffered for three years. To put this kind of information in front of us and for us to deal with is almost an impossible task, which is why I asked Mr Staples to deal with it," he said.

Bryan Staples is the chief executive of Earthquake Services and with Shand has worked to get bigger payouts for Christchurch people whose properties were damaged in earthquakes. His fee is a percentage of the increase in compensation above what the EQC originally offers.

Goodier was quizzed at length about work he had done at the property, including work on a path. Among a mass of detail the word curb had to be defined, which bothered Goodier.

"Can you just explain it, and keep the emotion out? Let's just try and keep this as calm as you can," Justice Helen Cull said.

EQC lawyer Bruce Scott asked many questions about the way the property was maintained, including whether more paint or stain was needed on the cedar exterior.

"Not all parts of the property were well maintained, were they?" he asked.

Whanganui chicken farmer and former teacher and police officer Tony Hore was called on today. He is a friend of the Goodiers who had visited the house before and after the slip.

After it he noticed a marked slope in an upstairs floor, cracks in walls and doors that stuck. IAG's lawyer, Richard Raymond QC, asked whether Hore was in the habit of checking how doors worked.

He replied he was in "house hunting mode" at the time, and "getting pretty fussy".

He said he wrote his witness statement with the help of his daughter. About the change in lounge floor level he said: "You could probably roll a marble down it. The slope feels quite surreal and plays tricks on your mind about your balance".

Raymond pointed out that another witnesses words on the slope were identical.

"Do you want to revisit your earlier answer about how you wrote this paragraph?" he asked.

More factual and expert witnesses are to come. The case is expected to take another five days.