Government-owned Southern Response faces a class action from angry homeowners over delays in handling their claims from the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.

New Zealand law firm GCA Lawyers filed the suit in the Christchurch High Court last month on behalf of 47 policyholders led by local businessman Cameron Preston.

Mr Preston says homeowners, including him, have run out of patience.

“A group of policyholders got sick and tired of the delaying and manipulation of our insurance policies and manipulation of experts that were being briefed to produce information in the best interests of the insurer rather than the policyholders,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“It has been five years of going nowhere with them. We expect this to speed up the resolution rather than delay it.”

Southern Response will “strongly defend” itself against the lawsuit.

“We do not accept that the proposed representative action has any merit,” the group says.

It says customers have a right to take action, but warns of repercussions.

“We are genuinely concerned about the risks and potential negative impacts on our customers being signed up to the proposed representative action without being fully informed.

“Given that each homeowner’s situation is different and each individual claim requires time and care, we consider the quickest and fairest way to settle claims is on an individual basis.”

Southern Response is handling the Canterbury earthquake claims of AMI Insurance.

IAG bought AMI in 2012, but the Government took over the insurer’s quake claims and created Southern Response to handle them.

“Many Cantabrians still don’t know the truth about the damage to their home or the cost of fixing it,” GCA Lawyers says on the Southern Response class action website.

“Southern Response isn’t giving you a straight answer about your claim and you might be under too much financial stress to take any type of court action.”

GCA Lawyers Principal Grant Cameron says policyholders can “call the shots” by initiating the class action.