Infonews
Today’s District Court decision to fine Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd $1.885 million on 24 charges relating to the sale of non-compliant steel mesh delivers nothing to those home owners and contractors who have used the company’s products in good faith, says litigation lawyer Adina Thorn.
She says the fines are a good result for the Commerce Commission but provide little comfort to Christchurch owners who have rebuilt only to find the reinforcing used in that process is not to standard.
“The 500E standard for the mesh at the centre of the charges brought against the company was specifically introduced in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes to minimise damage resulting from any future events of this nature,” says Ms Thorn. Steel & Tube sold products that were specifically labelled as meeting the standard, when they didn’t. In fact, in many cases the product hadn’t even been independently tested at all.”