New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Legislative history

Legal area

Court

19 Apr 2023

KIWI v COMMISSIONER OF POLICE [2023] NZCA 106

Citation

[2023] NZCA 106
Court

Court of Appeal

Leave to adduce further evidence was declined because the affidavit was not fresh or cogent; the High Court's finding that 135 Kairua Road was purchased with proceeds of methamphetamine dealing is upheld and forfeiture stands; the CPRA can operate to permit assets forfeiture orders in respect of Māori freehold land subject to the protective alienation regime in Te Ture Whenua Māori Act when the Official Assignee disposes of vested land; however an assets forfeiture order cannot be made in respect of a fixture (a house affixed to land) as such improvements are not severable recognised estates…
17 Mar 2023

THALER v COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS [2023] NZHC 554

Citation

[2023] NZHC 554
Court

High Court

The statutory text, context and legislative history show Parliament intended the concept of inventor to operate in the established way tied to natural persons and to prevent importers from being treated as inventors; there is no clear legislative intention to treat non-human entities as inventors and it is not the role of the courts to expand that definition — accordingly the Assistant Commissioner's decision refusing to accept DABUS as inventor and to treat the application as void was correct and the appeal is dismissed.
7 Jul 2020

ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION v NG AND “L” [2020] NZCA 274

Citation

[2020] 2 NZLR 683
Court

Court of Appeal

The phrase 'ordinary consequence' in s 32(1)(c) does not mean 'more probable than not'. It means an outcome within the normal range of outcomes of the treatment — i.e. not surprising or out of the ordinary. The assessment is case-specific, taking into account all circumstances including clinical knowledge and patient factors, and may be informed but not determined by statistical evidence.
20 May 2020

THE KIWI PARTY INCORPORATED v THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2020] NZHC 1062

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1062
Court

High Court

The Order in Council did not lawfully include pistols because the definition of 'military style semi-automatic firearm' in the Arms Act is expressly qualified by the chapeau 'a firearm (other than a pistol)', which applies to any additional descriptions inserted by order; therefore the Order was intra vires s 74A and the applicant's claim is dismissed.
17 Dec 2019

CIR v ROBERTS [2019] NZCA 654

Citation

[2019] NZCA 654
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that, for s LD 3(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 2007 as enacted for the years in issue, "monetary" and "money" are not confined to physical cash; a monetary gift may be constituted by a specific credit such as forgiveness of a debt because the statutory concept of payment can be satisfied by crediting/debiting accounts. Policy arguments about valuation and administration did not justify reading the provision narrowly contrary to its text and context, so forgiveness of debt to a registered charity qualified as a monetary gift for the tax credit.
1 Nov 2018

NRS MEDIA HOLDINGS LTD v COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2018] NZCA 472

Citation

[2018] NZCA 472
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that s DB 55 must be applied using ordinary nexus principles rather than a special, more restrictive 'direct causal' test; NRS's recurrent corporate/head office expenses had a sufficient factual nexus to deriving the exempt foreign dividends and, assessed from a practical and business point of view, were revenue (not capital) in nature and therefore deductible under s DB 55 despite the section's exemption override not removing the capital limitation.
24 May 2016

Rankin v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2016] NZACC 145
Court

District Court

The Corporation is entitled to revise a deemed decision under s65(2) without being required to establish the deemed decision was made in error; alternatively, on the evidence the deemed decision was made in error because the condition accepted as cover was degenerative and not caused by treatment or a failure to treat; accordingly no treatment injury was established as the injury arose wholly or substantially from underlying degenerative arthrosis and not from medical treatment or its omission.
18 Dec 2015

THE COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE V DIAMOND [2015] NZCA 613

Citation

[2015] NZCA 613
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that 'a permanent place of abode in New Zealand' in s OE 1 requires more than mere availability or ownership of a dwelling; it entails an enduring habitual residential relationship akin to a home assessed by an integrated factual inquiry (continuity, duration, durability of association, and closeness of connection to the dwelling). Mere potential to reside is insufficient. Applying that test the Waikato Esplanade property, never occupied by Mr Diamond and used as an investment, was not his permanent place of abode, so he was not resident under s OE 1 and the appeal was dismisse…
4 Dec 2015

JETSTAR AIRWAYS LIMITED v RICHARD GREENSLADE [2015] NZSC 187

Citation

[2015] NZSC 187
Court

Supreme Court

Leave to appeal was refused because the interpretive difficulty arose only where the 'other enactment' requires rest between work periods whereas Part 6D concerns breaks during work periods; Jetstar's proposed interpretation was strained and not sufficiently important to justify Supreme Court review or to raise a miscarriage of justice.
5 Sept 2014

CONCEPTS 124 LTD v COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2014] NZHC 2140

Citation

[2014] NZHC 2140
Court

High Court

The Court held that Concepts 124 and Ormiston were associated persons under s 2A(1)(a)(i) because the statutory measurement and attribution rules (YA/YC) operate to attribute the voting interests carried by shares held by corporate trustees to the ultimate shareholder for the purpose of determining voting interests and control; alternatively, Mr Cummings also exercised control of Ormiston by other means via his control of the corporate trustee and trustee appointment powers, so s 2A(1)(a)(iii) is satisfied; accordingly Concepts 124's input tax credit entitlement is limited to $94,111.12.