New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Mere conduit doctrine

Legal area

Court

15 Jun 2022

WEBER v HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL [2022] NZHC 1405

Citation

[2022] NZHC 1405
Court

High Court

Because Tremain Real Estate and Ms Baddeley only forwarded documentation they had received from the vendors and did not adopt or make any representations themselves, they were mere conduits; the representations in the documents were those of the vendors; plaintiffs therefore cannot establish an objectively misleading representation by the agents under s 9 FTA nor a tortious duty breach against them, so the claims against the third and fourth defendants cannot succeed and are struck out under r 15.1.
12 Mar 2010

RED EAGLE CORPORATION LTD V ELLIS SC 72/2009

Citation

RED EAGLE CORPORATION LTD V ELLIS SC 72/2009
Court

Supreme Court

Ellis's unqualified representations about Black's Sydney properties breached s9; because Ellis had a long‑standing reputation with Falkenstein and fully associated himself with the project his representations retained causal potency at the time the loan was advanced and were an effective cause of Red Eagle's loss; Ellis was not a mere conduit; Red Eagle's own carelessness was a contributory operative cause so a 50% apportionment of the principal loss was appropriate under s43.