New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Descoping
  • 4 Aug 2022

    DALTON AND KEMP v MICO DEVELOPMENT LIMITED [2022] NZHC 1913

    Citation
    [2022] NZHC 1913
    Court
    High Court

    Agreed direct payments by the principal to subcontractors, expressly consented to as deductions from amounts payable to the contractor, are 'payments' and therefore transactions by the company under s292(3) and recoverable under s295. By contrast, unilateral 'descoping' deductions and speculative defects retentions that were disputed and not the product of the contractual valuation process are not transactions by the company for the purposes of s292(3) and thus are not caught by the voidable transaction regime. The respondent failed to establish the s296(3) good faith defence because a reason…