A team from Leeds-headquartered Walker Morris has secured Supreme Court success for flat owners at New Lawrence House in Manchester.
Following on from the Court of Appeal’s decision in December 2019, the Supreme Court has refused East West’s appeal over the maximum liability cap (MLC) payable under the policy at dispute.
The decision covers the Zurich Standard 10 New Home building warranty and provides welcome relief for the owners of the flats at New Lawrence House.
The Court of Appeal’s decision that the MLC is to be set at £10.8 million (which was the combined purchase price value of all of the flats in the development), as opposed to £3.6 million (which included only a proportion of the flats) as contended by East West, will now stand as good law and as a proper interpretation of the new home warranty issued by Zurich.
A specialist legal team including Thomas Grant QC and Ryan Turner of Maitland Chambers, and members of the Walker Morris construction and engineering team, including Paul Hargreaves and Martin Scott (pictured left and right, respectively), advised the claimants.
Hargreaves, who led the Walker Morris team, commented: “This is extremely welcome news for our long suffering clients, who have had to endure significant financial hardship as a result of having to meet spiralling service charge costs, and mortgage payments in a building that has remained empty since 2017 due to significant fire safety defects that the insurers did not want to pay to rectify.”
“The decision will be of great interest to all involved in the new home warranty market, including insurers and policyholders alike.”
