Update on the EQC On-sold Class Action

Just over 260 homeowners opted in to the EQC On-sold class action before the deadline of 5pm on 22 September 2023.  

There are a further 10 who opted in late that EQC won’t consent to be added.  We have filed/served an application to the High Court to extend the time for these people who Grant Shand is dealing with directly.

We have sent out funding agreements to all of those who opted in (although some emails appear to be incorrect, these are being followed up), and we have received a huge number of these funding agreements back already.  We will be sending a reminder to those who opted in, but haven’t yet returned their funding agreements in the next couple of weeks.

We received a couple of questions on the funding agreement around the funding fee on amounts below the EQC cap and also on EQC reimbursement of costs for expert reports (engineers, geotechs, etc.).  Just to clarify, the funding fee of 15% is only applicable to any settlement or judgment amount received over and above the EQC cap amount, and is not calculated against reimbursement of expert costs.

Also, EQC is looking to make an application to the Court to have some of those who opted in removed on the basis that they don’t meet the class definition.  Once we get the details from EQC, Grant Shand will be making contact directly with those homeowners for comment.

We are now going through a phase of procedural steps (e.g., discovery) with the class action with the next conference with the Court on 12 December 2023.  We expect the Court to make further timetabling decisions and we will provide you with more news then.