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SPECIALISATION:

Professional and public liability; Construction; Compliance; Subrogated recoveries

Kathryn Pengelly is a senior associate who joined the Auckland insurance team in 2011.

Kathryn specialises in insurance and reinsurance including areas of public liability and professional indemnity claims, providing advice to insurers on claims handling, policy interpretation and compliance issues.

RECENT WORK

Worked on secondment for insurer clients advising on all aspects of their insurance legal business including working on a project amending and updating their Life insurance policy wordings and advising and assisting in the settlement of commercial and residential (body corporate) material damage and business interruption claims arising out of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Acting for an insurer of a contract works policy in a dispute over the appropriate indemnity when the subject matter of the contract works is not going to be reinstated. 

Advised an insurer of a commercial motor lines policy on the application of underinsurance and salvage on settlement.

Advised an insurer in respect of the obligations to joint owner and a breach of condition by an insured claimant who has been declared insane following a non-accidental fire to the property.

Advised an insurer as to the appropriate reinsurance period on which to claim after determining the date of damage for a leaky building.

Handling professional indemnity claims against solicitors for the insurer of a solicitors scheme in the UK. The nature of the claims dealt with were many and varied and include mortgage fraud, residential conveyancing, commercial property, estates, commercial litigation, and a large volume of claims against a firm which dealt with miners' claims under a scheme to handle vibration white finger claims.

Acting for on behalf of the insurers of architects, construction contractors, quantity surveyors, in a number of class actions brought by homeowners of “leaky homes”.

Acting on a non-insurance construction dispute between a major NZ construction company and its client, under a contract for the relocation of a Sachet Packaging Plant.  The contract had a Guaranteed Maximum Price (excluding contingencies), and a dispute arose as to the valuation of the approved variations and takeouts. 

Acting for the insurer of an investment portfolio management company, which discovered that its principal investment manager had traded in riskier positions than the clients’ instructions, and had misreported to the clients in order to hide poor portfolio performance. The company was able to notify affected clients and resolve their claims against the company without proceedings having to be issued.

MEMBERSHIPS

New Zealand Insurance Law Association