New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Interpretation of heads of agreement

Legal area

Court

23 Oct 2014

ROBINSON v REAL ESTATE AGENTS AUTHORITY (CAC 20006) [2014] NZHC 2613

Citation

(2014) 15 NZCPR 670
Court

High Court

Appeal allowed: the heads of agreement expressly authorised each party to appoint their own agent so an agent appointed by one party could list and market the property on that party's instructions; marketing in those circumstances did not breach r9.15 or amount to unsatisfactory conduct by the branch manager, so the Tribunal's finding of unsatisfactory conduct and the $2,000 order were set aside.
15 Apr 2013

EBS v CAS HC WN CIV-2011-485-2595

Citation

openlaw-48cce586_dc01_4c2a_9c60_b6b9220da1ea.pdf
Court

High Court

Where parties reached a settlement at mediation and subsequently dispute the scope or interpretation of the settlement (HoA), documents prepared for the mediation are not barred by s57 or the agreement to mediate from being admitted to assist in determining the existence, scope or meaning of the agreement; mediator waiver is not required in these circumstances and confidentiality clauses in the agreement to mediate cannot be used to prevent admission when evidence is necessary to interpret or enforce the settlement.
9 Sept 2011

SCANTLEBURY V PINNY HC AK CIV 2010-470-000723

Citation

openlaw-1e4e86c8_2d5a_41ae_9d11_2128c1f4e709.pdf
Court

High Court

The heads of agreement, properly interpreted, imposed a personal obligation on the defendant to repay 50% of the acquisition costs; the presumption of personal liability of a contracting trustee was not displaced by the document; the loan fell due within the initial one year term (or on its expiry) and plaintiff established no defence to core claim; summary judgment entered for plaintiff for $238,000 with specified interest; additional claimed costs were not to an indisputable amount and summary judgment was refused for those items.

New Zealand Case Law

ROBINSON v REAL ESTATE AGENTS AUTHORITY (CAC 20006) [2014] NZHC 2613

EBS v CAS HC WN CIV-2011-485-2595

SCANTLEBURY V PINNY HC AK CIV 2010-470-000723