Peter Glasson has ended his eight-day hunger strike after coming to an agreement over his earthquake-damaged home.
Mr Glasson's home suffered significant damage in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. After years of back-and-forth with insurance company Southern Response, he turned to a hunger strike as a last resort.
In a joint statement, Southern Response and Mr Glasson say they have "reached an agreement" - and Stuff reports Mr Glasson celebrated by devouring a Chinese takeaway.
The agreement will see the case enter an ADR (alternative dispute resolution) process, taking it out of the court process.
"The Residential Advisory Service (RAS) did a fantastic job facilitating the negotiations," Southern Response chief executive Anthony Honeybone says.
"RAS was established for this exact situation, to assist and support earthquake claimants through the claims process and any disputes that might arise."
The dispute began in 2016, which was when the insurance company "first became aware that the Glassons had issues with their house foundations", chief executive Anthony Honeybone told Newshub last week.
"We started working with the Glassons to settle their claim from this point and, after we were able to broadly understand their issues, we offered to mediate with them. Unfortunately mediation was unsuccessful.
"Southern Response has offered to actually undertake the work to repair the Glassons' house."
But the two parties could not agree on the extent of the repairs required for Mr Glasson's house.
"We've tried to speak to Southern Response," he told Newshub last week.
"They're refusing to meet with us and refusing to discuss our claim and so it's just a very problematic position that we've got ourselves into."
Ms Glasson, his wife Anna Glasson and their lawyer now say they look forward to resolving the entire issue very soon.
Newshub.
