Commencing leaky building legal proceedings
Statement of leaky building claim
Litigation is commenced by filing a statement of claim at a Court. The claim is filed in the District Court (if the damages being sought are less than $200,000) or the High Court (if the damages exceed $200,000).The Court filing fee is $140 for the District Court and $1100 for the High Court.The statement of claim sets out the identities of the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s), the plaintiff's case against the defendants, and how much money the plaintiff is seeking for the leaky home dispute. Often at the beginning of a case, not all of the facts and circumstances are known. Nor are all of the parties that should be involved, or the exact amount of money being sought (referred to as 'quantum').
Because of this, it's likely the statement of claim will be amended before the trial. Once a statement of claim has been filed at the Court and served upon the defendants, they have 25 working days to file and serve a statement of defence. This is a response to each of the allegations in the statement of claim.
The Court then manages the progress of the proceedings under the High Court Rules (or District Courts Rules) at case management conferences. These conferences are attended by a judge and solicitors only (not the client) and either happen by telephone, or in person.
At the conferences the solicitors and judge will discuss the various procedural requirements to get the case to a trial and the judge will make timetable orders to move the case through to the next stage of the proceeding.
Leaky Building Litigation Process
1. Commencing leaky building proceedings
2. Discovery and inspection
3. Interrogatories
4. Interlocutory applications
5. Evidential witness statements
6. Mediation / Judicial Settlement
7. Conference
8. The leaky building trial
9. Leaky building legal costs
10. Role of leaky building experts
11. Damages
