News

The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s declaration that a non-statutory process that allowed pokie machine operators to relocate was unlawful under the Gambling Act 2003.

The Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association of New Zealand (“RITANZ”) declined Mr Kamal’s application for membership on character grounds. The High Court dismissed his application to quash that decision, but issued a declaratory judgement in his favour. The Court of Appeal upheld RITANZ’s decision to decline his membership application and allowed a cross-appeal by RITANZ against the declaratory judgement, which relaxed the procedural standards the High Court set for RITANZ when determining applications.

The Supreme Court overturned the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries’ decision on Total Allowable Catch (“TAC”) for the East Coast tarakihi fishery (“East Coast Fishery”), despite Seafood New Zealand succeeding on one ground of appeal. The key issues were whether the Minister’s decision could consider social, cultural, and economic factors (“SCE factors”), and what probability of rebuild success the Minister could choose.

The Court of Appeal overturned an injunction, allowing a bank to close a client's account due to human rights abuse concerns, ruling there was no arguable case that the account closure breached the client’s rights.

A climate change advocacy group was unsuccessful in judicial review proceedings challenging the grant of two petroleum exploration permits.

Three vaping related businesses were unsuccessful in challenging regulations setting the maximum permissible nicotine concentration in vaping products.

The Human Rights Review Tribunal awarded $60,000 in damages for a privacy breach, in which an employer took an employee’s work laptop, personal cell phone and a personal USB drive, without consent.

The High Court confirmed local authorities do not carry the Crown’s Treaty duties, other than where specifically statutorily prescribed. The judicial review application by trustees of Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau Trust, the legal representative of the Rangitāne o Wairau iwi (“Rangitāne”), as against the Marlborough District Council (“MDC”), was dismissed.

Franks Ogilvie has become aware of a political action campaign against Franks Ogilvie and Director Stephen Franks following a letter sent on behalf of a firm client, Inflection Point NZ.