2018

Supreme Court brings final clarity to prospectus liability Houghton v Sanders ([2018] NZSC 74) was a partially successful appeal, which considered the liability of those associated with the 2004 Feltex Carpets initial public offe...

Contractual penalties again A previous update covered a 2017 Court of Appeal decision on contractual penalties.(1) Although the law applied in that decision was not NZ law, but that of the contract...

No costs entitlement without lawyer's invoice – parties using in-house lawyers lose entitlement to costs Since 1983 it has been the position in New Zealand that a party can recover costs in cases where it has been represented by a lawyer that it employed. A recent decision b...

Context is everything – court adopts purposive approach to runway end safety area criteria Landing at Wellington Airport, at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand, can be hair-raising. A combination of strong cross winds, a tricky approach through hills...

Major changes to privacy laws: implications for New Zealand businesses The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into full effect on May 25 2018 and will affect New Zealand businesses that do business with EU residents or en...

Duty of care owed by local authority to commissioning owner after stadium collapse The Supreme Court recently reversed a Court of Appeal judgment that a local authority did not owe a duty of care to a commissioning owner in issuing a code compliance cer...

Supreme Court decision seen as warning for litigation funders (Published 6 February 2018) In PricewaterhouseCoopers v Walker,(1) the Supreme Court issued a somewhat controversial decision of significance in the area of litigation funding. The decision contains...

2017

Amendments to Evidence Act for civil litigators (published on 12 December 2017) The law of evidence in court proceedings in New Zealand is contained in the Evidence Act 2006. The act codified and adapted the common law, which until 2006 had largely g...

Supreme Court enforces 'use it or lose it' trademark rule (published on 27 October 2017) The Supreme Court decision in Crocodile International Ltd v Lacoste has clarified the law applicable to unused registered trademarks in New Zealand and limited the scope...

Court of Appeal sheds light on new approach to penalties in Torchlight decision (published on 12 September 2017) In Wilaci Pty Ltd v Torchlight Fund No 1 LP (in rec), the New Zealand Court of Appeal had to determine whether late payment fees of A$28 million on a 60-day loan of A$37...

Substantial security for costs ordered for third-party funded claims (published on 5 September 2017) The High Court recently ordered that the substantial amount of NZ$2.6 million be provided as security for costs by a litigation funder in relation to claims brought again...

Supreme Court upholds smoking ban in mental health facilities (published on 22 August 2017) The Supreme Court has upheld(1) a ban on smoking in public mental health facilities, ruling that the ban did not breach patients' rights, even of those compulsorily d...

Breach of disclosure requirements aborts complex financial crime trial (published on 15 August 2017) The High Court(1) recently aborted the trial of four company directors of two failed finance companies after the prosecution disclosed an unprecedented number of previous...

Court of Appeal upholds prisoner voting rights declaration (published on 8 August 2017) The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court declaration that a prohibition on prisoners voting is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. In doing so, it co...

No duty of care owed by local authority to commissioning owner after stadium collapse (published on 13 June 2017) The Court of Appeal recently held that a local authority did not owe a duty of care to a commissioning owner in issuing a code compliance certificate for a non-compliant...

Restricted scope of judicial review for government procurement decisions restored by Court of Appeal (published on 25 April 2017) The Court of Appeal recently reversed, on appeal, a High Court judgment setting aside the Ministry of Health's decision to award problem gambling services contracts t...

Litigation funding in New Zealand (published on January 31 2017) The funding of litigation in New Zealand by third parties on commercial terms has gathered momentum in recent years. This has particularly been the case with representati...