Authors: Sebastian Bisley, Tim Smith
Published: 9 October 2023
Pages: 45

Introduction

While legislation most obviously changes the legal landscape, the law also always evolves through litigation and the case law which results from it. This most obviously transpires when new social problems have to be met – such as dealing with, say, climate change or increasingly ingenious fraudulent attacks on our bank accounts. However, such evolution also continues to occur when continuing to deal with perennial judicial and academic debates which might have been expected to be well settled – such as, say, about how best to balance certainty with giving effect to a true bargain when interpreting a contract, how best to give effect to Parliament’s intention when trying to stop people avoiding paying tax or what standards directors should be held to when their company is facing insolvency.

In light of that constant case law evolution, this seminar aims to provide an update on what we see as some of the more significant commercial case law developments to occur in New Zealand, or which might be of particular significance to New Zealand, over the last couple of years. Some of those cases, such as those relating to contractual interpretation, will be of general significance to all lawyers who practice in the commercial field. Other cases are of more specialist application but, we feel, still of particular policy significance. Such cases are also, we hope, still of interest to all of those who practice in the commercial field.

Content outline

• Bathurst Resources Ltd v L&M Coal Holdings Ltd - Contractual interpretation and implied terms
• Woolley v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd - contractual discretions in New Zealand
• Philipp v Barclays Bank UK plc - bank's duties to instructions when potentially on notice of fraud
• PGG Wrightson Real Estate Ltd v Routhan - damages for misrepresentation
• Frucor Suntory New Zealand Limited v Commissioner of Inland Revenue - tax avoidance and parliament's purpose
• ClientEarth v Shell plc - director's duties and climate change
• Yan v Mainzeal Property and Construction Limited (In Liquidation) - director's duties when a company is facing insolvency