New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Notice to terminate

Legal area

Court

16 Dec 2021

KINGSBEER TRANSPORT LTD v MARTIN-BROWER NEW ZEALAND [2021] NZHC 3494

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3494
Court

High Court

No binding contract was formed on the pleaded essential terms because the parties did not objectively agree on essential elements (notably duration and timing) and no fixed timeframe was committed; accordingly KTL's claims for breach, repudiation, estoppel and misleading/deceptive conduct fail; parts of the restitution/quantum meruit claim were precluded by negotiated settlement of certain invoices and others are reserved for supplementary determination; MBNZ's counterclaims fail.
26 Jun 2020

NOBLE v SIMONS [2020] NZCA 259

Citation

[2020] NZCA 259
Court

Court of Appeal

Leave to appeal was declined because the issues raised were essentially factual (the appropriateness of damages and the validity of the termination notice), the statutory test for exemplary damages in s 109(3) was applied and did not require an additional 'flagrant' gloss, the initial notice was invalid on its face so the proposed legal questions were not seriously arguable, the High Court had already considered the arguments and there was no matter of public importance or other reason to justify a second appeal.
10 Dec 2019

NOBLE v SIMONS [2019] NZHC 3242

Citation

[2019] NZHC 3242
Court

High Court

Both proposed questions fail the s 120(2) threshold: the first assumes factual findings inconsistent with prior findings that the original notice was defective and therefore is not a seriously arguable question of law; the second is resolved by s 109 which requires intentional commission of an unlawful act and does not add a separate legal requirement of 'flagrant' conduct, and the Tribunal made adequate factual findings supporting the exemplary damages award; therefore leave to appeal is declined.
7 May 2008

MEDIA 1 LIMITED V N W SHANKS AND WILSON MCKAY TRUSTEE COMPANY LIMITED AND ORS SC 16/2008

Citation

SC 16/2008
Court

Supreme Court

Leave to appeal was dismissed because the dispute concerned the interpretation of the words of a particular letter and did not raise questions of general or public importance; the Court of Appeal applied settled principles and its view was not plainly incorrect, so the criteria for granting leave were not satisfied.
15 Feb 2008

AOTEAROA INTERNATIONAL LTD V PAPER RECLAIM LTD HC AK CIV 2001-404-1799

Citation

openlaw-9c0eeb50_4921_4202_b251_2b8ab3f2b91c.pdf
Court

High Court

Paper Reclaim was awarded costs on scale 2 band B for all steps, with a 40% uplift under Rule 48C for Aotearoa's unreasonable persistence in hopeless heads of claim; Aotearoa was not awarded costs for the unproceeded discovery application; total assessed costs $6,048 plus disbursements to be certified by the Registrar.

New Zealand Case Law

KINGSBEER TRANSPORT LTD v MARTIN-BROWER NEW ZEALAND [2021] NZHC 3494

NOBLE v SIMONS [2020] NZCA 259

NOBLE v SIMONS [2019] NZHC 3242

MEDIA 1 LIMITED V N W SHANKS AND WILSON MCKAY TRUSTEE COMPANY LIMITED AND ORS SC 16/2008

AOTEAROA INTERNATIONAL LTD V PAPER RECLAIM LTD HC AK CIV 2001-404-1799