On behalf of some of the Pike River Families

Judge Jane Farish has sentenced the Pike River Coal Company (in Receivership) today and has commented on the apparent lack of funds to meet reparations made this morning.

The apparent inability of the Company to pay fines or reparation has been the subject of submissions by the Crown through Crown Prosecutor, Mark Zarifeh, and has been canvassed carefully by the Court.

For the Families there are some points that need to be made.

As the Royal Commission observed in its Report, when a Company is of so little value following a disaster such as this, it does not assume responsibility for Recovery and as a result an arduous struggle continues for those Families who seek to recover their men. Ultimately, it is only the assurance of funding for a safe and credible plan, through the Government, that has kept this process alive.

However, as disclosed in the Victim Impact Reports made to the Court in Greymouth yesterday, many of the Families and in particular those with children, are now in a highly constrained financial position.

The Families recognize that there are many other victims in the work place and from the Christchurch Earthquakes, and hardship frequently follows such disasters.

Further, through the funds held in trust from public subscription and money from New Zealand Petroleum which carried them through the immediate aftermath of the disaster, enabling them to pay debts and meet other obligations.

However, compensatory damages are not available at law, so the Families are left only with claims for exemplary damages. But these are very complex claims which take a great deal of time and do not produce large awards. They are by definition exemplary, and are not designed to compensate.

They would however constitute some element of redress for the Families, but the Company appears a worthless defendant in such proceedings. The Judge this morning contemplated the possibility of reparation being met perhaps through shareholders and directors and the Families await with interest their response.

Some Families hope that this predicament may be seen as similar to the situation at Cave Creek, where failures of the Department of Conservation were identified, and where the Government set up a straightforward process to assess payments to families and survivors. Given the apology from Ministers who travelled to Greymouth, not just for the present Administration but for previous Administrations, this is an avenue open to the Government but not yet taken.

ENDS

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