6 Mar 2020
SMITH v FONTERRA CO-OPERATIVE GROUP LTD [2020] NZHC 419
- Citation
- [2020] 2 NZLR 394
- Court
- High Court
The plaintiff's public nuisance claim is struck out because he lacks the required special damage and cannot show an unlawful act or sufficient causal nexus between defendants' conduct and the particular damage pleaded; the negligence claim is struck out because the asserted novel duty fails on foreseeability, causation, proximity and policy grounds (indeterminate and disproportionate liability, and comprehensive statutory regime occupying the field); the claim for a novel 'inchoate' duty is not struck out because the Court will not at strike‑out stage foreclose the possible development of the…