A High Court judge has found the Invercargill City Council partially responsible for the collapse of Stadium Southland's roof five years' ago.

The roof collapsed after a huge dump of snow in 2010.

In her decision, Justice Dunningham found the Council was 10% responsible for the collapse, while Invercargill engineer Tony Major was 90% responsible.

The judgement was for nearly $17 million - and even though the council is only 10% responsible, its indemnifier RiskPool may need to stump up the rest if Major isn't able to pay the 90 percent.

But CEO Richard King says, as the council is fully insured, ratepayers only need to pay the $10,000 excess.