New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Spoliation

Legal area

Court

4 Apr 2016

VAN ESSEN v THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND AND OTHERS [2016] NZHC 555

Citation

[2016] NZHC 555
Court

High Court

The Court held that increased costs would have been appropriate for the plaintiffs' conduct (a 2B scale award with a 35% uplift) but that the uplifted figure exceeded actual costs; accordingly, pursuant to s45(5) Legal Services Act 2011 the court specified that, had s45 not affected liability, an order for costs in the amount of $80,053.36 would have been made against the plaintiffs; indemnity costs were refused and no determination was made as to 'exceptional circumstances' under s46(3).
20 Jul 2012

MORGAN V ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION HC WHA CIV-2011-488-528

Citation

openlaw-40ba97d4_e03e_49dc_81e6_12765216f0a5.pdf
Court

High Court

Special leave was refused because the legal question relied on did not arise in the decisions below and appeared to be an afterthought; there was insufficient evidence that s66 applied or had been breached because the original file's existence and the timing of any destruction are unproven; and even if the legal question were decided for the applicant his prospects of obtaining an extension of time would not materially improve given the delay, the onus to show the original decision was manifestly wrong, and the prejudice to the Corporation from missing contemporaneous records.