8 May 2020
SMITH v BALL [2020] NZHC 944
- Citation
- [2020] NZHC 944
- Court
- High Court
Court concluded there was an express trust: on the 1993 transfer CMDL took legal title but held units 3,4 and 5/38 Dominion Street on trust for Ray Smith; CML holds shares in CMDL on trust by attribution of Ball's knowledge; writing requirements of Property Law Act s49A(2) were satisfied by contemporaneous documents and equity would not permit statutory formality to defeat the trust. Loan transfers ($303,000 and $646,500) were advances from Ray Smith to CMDL used to preserve the trust property; Ball did not breach fiduciary duties in those transfers given the finding that the beneficial inter…