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Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002

Miscellaneous provisions

110: Protection from liability

You could also call this:

"You can't sue for damages during an emergency, unless someone acted very wrongly on purpose."

If you are involved in a state of emergency or a transition period, you cannot take the Crown, a Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, or their officers, employees, or members to court to recover damages for any loss or damage. This applies even if someone's action or lack of action caused the loss or damage, as long as they were doing their job under this Act. You can still take someone to court if they acted in bad faith or were grossly negligent, which means they did something very wrong on purpose or were extremely careless.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM151430.

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Part 7Miscellaneous provisions

110Protection from liability

  1. Except as provided in sections 107 to 109, there is no cause of action against the Crown, or a Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, or an officer or employee or member of any of them, or against any other person, to recover damages for any loss or damage that is due directly or indirectly to a state of emergency or a transition period.

  2. Subsection (1) applies whether the loss or damage is caused by any person taking any action or failing to take any action, so long as the act or omission occurred in the exercise or performance of his or her functions, duties, or powers under this Act.

  3. No person is exempted from liability under subsection (1) for any act or omission to act that constitutes bad faith or gross negligence on the part of that person.

Compare
  • s 66
Notes
  • Section 110(1): amended, at 9.59 pm on , by section 37 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 88).