New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Collateral waiver

Legal area

Court

20 Nov 2023

BUSINESS CONTROL (SCHWEIZ) AG v SHIBALOVA [2023] NZHC 3278

Citation

[2023] NZHC 3278
Court

High Court

New Zealand law governs the procedural and evidential question of waiver for the purposes of this proceeding; the defendant waived privilege over communications with Mr Grippaldi relevant to what instructions she gave about distribution of the recovered funds, and communications/documents describing steps Grippaldi took under the power of attorney in executing restitution orders are not protected by the defendant's privilege for the purposes of this proceeding.
27 Oct 2023

AFFORDABLE HOUSING LTD v BODY CORP 396511 [2023] NZHC 3015

Citation

[2023] NZHC 3015
Court

High Court

Leave to bring the late disclosure/further discovery application was refused because (1) the application was brought too close to trial and after close of pleadings so the Elders Pastoral criteria (interests of justice, no significant prejudice, no significant delay) were not met; (2) the bulk of the documents sought attract legal or without prejudice privilege and the applicant did not establish express, implied or collateral waiver under the Evidence Act 2006 (including that s65(5) prevents unilateral waiver of mediation privilege); (3) the applicant failed to provide sufficient evidence th…
8 Aug 2022

EVEREST SERVICED APARTMENTS LIMITED v BODY CORPORATE 511909 [2022] NZHC 1925

Citation

[2022] NZHC 1925
Court

High Court

Court held the Body Corporate waived privilege in the 15 November 2018 solicitor's letter by voluntary disclosure but refused to extend that waiver collaterally because the letter was not being deployed in the litigation, was disclosed pre-litigation, and maintaining privilege in related documents would not cause injustice or mislead the court; consequently further discovery was not ordered.
4 Jun 2015

CAPITAL + MERCHANT FINANCE LTD v PERPETUAL TRUST LTD [2015] NZHC 1233

Citation

[2015] NZHC 1233
Court

High Court

The court found CMF's briefs disclosed significant privileged communications but service of those briefs was not necessarily inconsistent with confidentiality; however collateral waiver applies to prevent selective use of privileged material so if CMF proceeds with its current briefs it must discover, subject to redaction for legal advice, all documents dated 18–24 September 2014 relevant to specific settlement issues identified by the court and must provide unredacted copies (for relevance) of two specified emails; alternatively CMF may amend its briefs by the court's deadline.

New Zealand Case Law

BUSINESS CONTROL (SCHWEIZ) AG v SHIBALOVA [2023] NZHC 3278

AFFORDABLE HOUSING LTD v BODY CORP 396511 [2023] NZHC 3015

EVEREST SERVICED APARTMENTS LIMITED v BODY CORPORATE 511909 [2022] NZHC 1925

CAPITAL + MERCHANT FINANCE LTD v PERPETUAL TRUST LTD [2015] NZHC 1233