A professional engineering body has dismissed all complaints against a senior engineer who handled dozens of claims for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) after the Canterbury earthquakes.
Graeme Robinson faced 11 complaints from Canterbury homeowners and was accused of being a rude and incompetent "bully" in a hearing before a disciplinary committee organised by the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) late last year.
The homeowners claimed he was an incompetent "bully" who failed to inspect some homes properly, throwing some into years of emotional and financial turmoil, and IPENZ later found the engineer to be negligent.
But an appeal to a higher body, the Chartered Professional Engineers Council (CPEC), has led to all complaints against Mr Robinson being quashed.
EQC chief executive Ian Simpson said the CPEC decision was "thorough, evidence-based and even-handed response to the original complaints".
"CPEC found that Mr Robinson is an expert in the assessment of earthquake damage," he said.
"EQC also accepts that, regardless of the technical issues, it is clear that the complainants to IPENZ have been upset by the assessment process and EQC apologises for any distress they felt."
Mr Simpson said CPEC placed the disputes in context of the "difficult, frightening and challenging situations customers and EQC staff found themselves in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes". "EQC has also acknowledged during the original Disciplinary Committee hearing that it should have done more to support Mr Robinson and that in responding to the scale of the events in Canterbury it did not always meet the expectations of its customers."
IPENZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene confirmed the body will not appeal the decision to the District Court. The appeal period expired last Friday and IPENZ was advised of the decision in mid-July.
"We acknowledge the impact and distress this process has had on the 10 Christchurch property owners who initiated the complaints against Mr Robinson, but we concluded that ongoing legal action would incur more costs without any certainty of a win for the appellants," she said.
However, the original complainants may also take their appeal to the District Court.
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