29 Apr 2021
MAWHINNEY v AUCKLAND COUNCIL [2021] NZCA 144
- Citation
- [2021] 3 NZLR 319
- Court
- Court of Appeal
The Court held that "totally without merit" is satisfied where proceedings are bound to fail; the High Court correctly identified three qualifying proceedings (subdivision consent litigation, boundary adjustment litigation, compliance certificate litigation) as totally without merit, but erred to the extent it imported broader vexatious factors into the threshold inquiry and failed to particularise exceptional circumstances justifying a five-year restraint; accordingly the five-year order was set aside and substituted with a three-year restraint, the appeal otherwise dismissed.