New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Compensation

Legal area

Court

31 May 2023

AUCKLAND COUNCIL v SAMSON CORPORATION LTD [2023] NZHC 1351

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1351
Court

High Court

The High Court concluded the Tribunal's large percentage benchmarking (reliance on Waterview as a binding template) was inappropriate; compensation must be grounded in HABU, credible market evidence and site-specific engineering assessment of covenant impacts. The Court substituted the Tribunal awards: Samson total compensation reduced to NZD 83,000 and YMCA total compensation reduced to NZD 858,400 (both inclusive of quantified acquisition and injurious affection components) and rejected claimed betterment on the evidence.
23 May 2023

PONTIFEX II LTD v HAYHOW [2023] NZHC 1206

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1206
Court

High Court

The court held s 317(1)(d) (no substantial injury) was satisfied and, having regard to change in neighbourhood character to rural residential, the evidence of planning, visual and valuation experts, and the existence of an enforceable New Covenant, it was just and equitable to modify (not extinguish) the Old Covenant as it applies to Lot 3 (Record of Title 700603) so that it does not prevent construction of a single dwelling; no compensation ordered and Coltman granted leave to file a separate originating application.
15 Mar 2023

JOHNS ROAD HORTICULTURAL LIMITED v POWELL [2023] NZHC 511

Citation

[2023] NZHC 511
Court

High Court

The court found s317(1)(a) and related grounds satisfied because the land has materially changed from rural horticultural use to residential/commercial use and the character of the neighbourhood has changed; the original drainage easements are redundant or inadequate for urban stormwater, the Second Easement is partly extinguished by Crown acquisition, and continuation of the easements would impede reasonable urban development (including vesting of roads); JRHL installed a stormwater system that mitigates any injury and allows connections, so no substantial injury arises; accordingly the cour…
16 Dec 2022

SILVERWOOD CORPORATION LIMITED v MINISTER FOR LAND INFORMATION [2022] NZHC 3483

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3483
Court

High Court

The High Court held the Tribunal erred by refusing a reserves credit for surplus reserve land in Lot 3 and by applying an unjustified 8.5% deferral rate rather than the 7.5% agreed by valuers; the Tribunal also erred in finding injurious affection to Lot 4 was entirely offset by betterment because there was no convincing evidence to establish and quantify such betterment; accordingly the Tribunal decision was set aside and substituted with the Court’s own assessment awarding Silverwood $1,155,000 for Lot 3 and $4,700,000 for Lot 4 (total $5,855,000), and the Crown's cross-appeal was dismissed.
22 Nov 2022

HARGUN SINGH v XIEYAN MAO [2022] NZHC 3046

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3046
Court

High Court

Purchaser was not required to have completed settlement to be entitled to penalty interest under cl 3.13(2)(a)(ii); the letter of 16 September 2020 satisfied cl 10.3 in substance; purchaser entitled to penalty interest from 16 September 2020 to 30 September 2022 calculated per the agreement with a credit for trust account interest under cl 3.13(2)(b); vendor not entitled to penalty interest for 30 September 2022 to 20 October 2022; parties to agree calculations or return to Court.
24 Mar 2022

SCOTT and SCOTT v RAWENATA and 57 OTHER OWNERSHIP INTERESTS [2022] NZHC 563

Citation

[2022] NZHC 563
Court

High Court

The registration of the Māori Land Court Consolidated Order against SA10C/179 was a mistake; s54(1)(a) applies where registration by another person deprives the owner even if that person was not involved in creating the instrument; on the facts it would be manifestly unjust under s55 to leave the first respondents registered because the error arose from third party and Registrar/Māori Land Court mistakes, the Scotts had occupied the land and acted promptly, the first respondents did not occupy or improve the land and did not oppose the application; s56 did not bar relief because there was no…
15 Sept 2021

DHINDSA INVESTMENTS LIMITED V ROBERTSON & ORS [2021] NZHC 2424

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2424
Court

High Court

Because the stormwater drain on the burdened land is abandoned and the benefited land has been redeveloped with a new public stormwater system, the easement is redundant; extinguishment will not substantially injure any person entitled to enforce it, and the court therefore exercised its discretion to extinguish the easement and declined to order compensation.
22 Sept 2020

PAIHIA PROPERTY HOLDINGS CORPORATE TRUSTEE LTD v BODY CORPORATE 190356 [2020] NZHC 2462

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2462
Court

High Court

The Court was satisfied on inspection and evidence that the proposed relocation of the right of way will not substantially injure the entitled parties in respect of noise, views, parking, safety or the Resort's resource consent position and therefore granted the application to modify easements D435872.3 and D435872.5 as specified.
25 Jun 2020

NEW ZEALAND COUNCIL OF LICENSED FIREARMS OWNERS INCORPORATED v MINISTER OF POLICE [2020] NZHC 1456

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1456
Court

High Court

Court held the common law right to compensation for deprivation of property was engaged by prohibition of certain ammunition but Parliament clearly and expressly excluded ammunition from the statutory compensation regime; the Order in Council defining prohibited ammunition was within the statutory power and lawful; the Minister's recommendation not to seek compensation was not a reviewable statutory decision; all claims dismissed.
13 Feb 2020

WILKINSON v CAMPBELL AND O’MAHONY [2020] NZHC 159

Citation

[2020] NZHC 159
Court

High Court

The court applied s317(1)(c) to find that beneficiaries who consented or who by their conduct waived enforcement allowed modification, and s317(1)(d) to find the proposed limited modification would not substantially injure any entitled person; therefore the court exercised its discretion to grant the modification without awarding compensation under s317(2).