|
|
New Zealand Employment Law Reports
Volume 21 Part 8 is now available online.
Vegepod NZ Ltd v Lowe — (2025) 21 NZELR 561
Interim reinstatement — Balance of convenience — Interests of justice — Serious question to be tried — Unjustified dismissal — Sham redundancy —Family-run company — Transfer pricing — Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 3, 125, 127, and 127(4).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children v Hill — (2025) 21 NZELR 584
Personal grievances — Unjustified dismissal — Defendant worked as youth worker at youth justice residence operated by plaintiff — Plaintiff summarily dismissed defendant for using excessive and unnecessary force on rangatahi — Defendant raised personal grievance contending she was acting in self-defence — Employment Relations Authority (ERA) upheld defendant’s personal grievance — Plaintiff challenged determination on de novo basis in Employment Court — Proper approach to determining whether defendant acted in self-defence — Relationship between broader test in Crimes Act 1961 and narrower test in Oranga Tamariki (Residential Care) Regulations 1996 — ERA erred in considering only subjective elements of self-defence rather than objective elements — Defendant failed to consider available less intrusive forms of intervention — Defendant did not act in self-defence — Reasonable for plaintiff to conclude defendant’s actions were unlawful and constituted serious conduct — Open to plaintiff to dismiss defendant as fair and reasonable employer — Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 103 and 103A; Oranga Tamariki (Residential Care) Regulations 1996, reg 22; Crimes Act 1961, s 48.
|
LDJ v EZC — (2025) 21 NZELR 605
Employment Court — Practice and procedure — Parties — Incapacitated persons — Litigation guardians — Proper approach to appointment — Employment Court Regulations 2000, reg 6(2)(a)(ii); High Court Rules 2016, rr 4.29, 4.30, 4.34, 4.35, and 4.47.
|
Youtap Ltd v Johnston — (2025) 21 NZELR 621
Employment — Employer — Parties’intention — Conduct — Control — Integration — Controlling third parties — Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 6, 103B, and 183.
|
Volume 21 Part 9 is now available online.
Kelly v Tall Poppies Education Ltd — (2024) 21 NZELR 636
Human rights — Unlawful discrimination — Disability — Employment — Less favourable conditions of work — Identification of relevant hypothetical comparator — Employee with mental health condition — First defendant contracted with plaintiff as independent contractor for delivery of home-based early childhood education services — Plaintiff sent email to first defendant stating that certain mental health symptoms “taking over” — Director of first defendant (second defendant) attempted to arrange in-person meetings with plaintiff — Plaintiff declined such meetings repeatedly — Second defendant suspended contract until in-person meeting occurred — Plaintiff gave first defendant four weeks’ notice of termination of contract — First defendant accepted termination but refused four weeks’ notice and treated contract as terminated immediately — Plaintiff alleged defendants’ conduct constituted unlawful discrimination — Defendants did not treat plaintiff less favourably by reason of disability — Claim dismissed — Human Rights Act 1993, s 22(1)(b).
|
Doria v Diamond Laser Medispa Taupo Ltd — (2025) 21 NZELR 666
Human Rights Review Tribunal — Discrimination based on sex — Pregnancy — Burden of proof — Intention irrelevant — Burden for legal authorisation — Comparator — Forced resignation — Compensation — Damages —HumanRightsAct 1993, ss 21, 21B, 22, 65, 74, 92I and 92M; Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987, ss 1A, 14, and 31.
|
WorkSafe New Zealand v National Emergency Management Agency — (2022) 21 NZELR 694
Health and safety — Extended duty to reduce risk — Work — Protection of “Other Persons” — Work activity — Work product — Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, ss 9, 12, 29, and 36.
|
McCormack v Reserve Bank of New Zealand — (2025) 21 NZELR 701
Employment — Dismissal for poor performance — Protected disclosure — Dismissal as retaliation — Interim reinstatement — Arguable claims — Low threshold — Balance of convenience — Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 4(1A), 103(1)(b), 103(1)(k), 110B, 124, 125 and 127; Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022, ss 9, 10 and 21; Privacy Act 2020, s 22, principle 6.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Practical Guidance: Family
Latest Legal Update
Ongoing litigation in throuple relationship property case
|
New Zealand Family Law Journal
Volume 11, issue 11 (November 2025) of the New Zealand Family Law Journal includes an article by Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown, Kaea Hudson and Ella Young, “Beyond s 7AA: what could New Zealand learn from Indigenous child protection laws in Canada and the United States?”
|
Fisher on Relationship Property
Service 110 (December 2025) of Fisher on Relationship Property is now available online. This service includes case commentary under Chapter 1 (Nature of relationship property), Chapter 2 (De facto relationships), Chapter 10 (Meaning and value of property), Chapter 12 (Division of relationship property), Chapter 13 (Economic disparity), Chapter 15 (Debts), Chapter 17 (Division where spouse or partner dies), Chapter 18 (Jurisdiction, orders, and implementation), and Chapter 19 (Proceedings under the Act).
|
New Zealand Family Law Reports
Volume 2024 Part 17 is now available online.
Chou v Commissioner of Inland Revenue — [2024] NZFLR 791
Care cost percentage — Care nights — Reasonable prospects of success — Strike out — Child Support Act 1991, ss 16, 79, 80, 86, 102, 104 and sch 2; Family Court Rules 2002, r 193.
|
Innes v Darlow (in his capacity as executor of the Estate of Innes) — [2024] NZFLR 795
Family protection — 2B costs — 2C costs — Indemnity costs — Uplift costs — Scale costs — Family Protection Act 1955; Family Court Rules 2002, r 207; District Court Rules 2014, rr 14.2, 14.3, 14.5, 14.5(2), 14.6, 14.6(3), 14.6(3)(a), 14.6(3)(b), 14.6(4), and 16.3.
|
Graves v Dillon — [2024] NZFLR 809
Relationship property — Protection of spouses’ or partners’ rights — Setting aside dispositions — Applicant applied to set aside dispositions of real property purchased by respondent to trust — Respondent both co-trustee and co-beneficiary of trust — Respondent signed agreements for sale and purchase of real property as “nominee” — Applicant contended respondent had purchased real property personally and nominated trust to take title — Distinction between form and substance of transactions — Respondent was non-lawyer who misunderstood meaning of word “nominee” — Purchases of property made by respondent using trust money pursuant to authority of trustees and in capacity as trustee — Properties not “relationship property” — Property (Relationships) Act 1976, s 44.
Relationship property — Orders relating to trusts — Compensation for property disposed of to trust — Applicant and respondent resided in property as family home — Residence not commenced until after property transferred to trust — Transfer of property not disposition of relationship property to trust — Property (Relationships) Act 1976, s 44C.
|
Volume 2024 Part 18 is now available online.
White v MacInnes — [2024] NZFLR 850
Relationship property — Notice of claim to interest — Trust — Property owned by family trust — “Family home” — Powers under trust — Whether interest in property to which notice could attach — Whether interest in property capable of being relationship property — Beneficially interested — Right to occupy property — Clayton v Clayton — Whether trust powers so extensive so as to amount to property — Valid trust — “Property” — Fiduciary duties of trustee — Land Transfer Act 2017, s 5; Property (Relationships) Act 1976, ss 2, 2H, 8(1), 39, 42, 44 and 44C; Trusts Act 2019, ss 14, 31, 121, 122, and 124.
|
Smith v West — [2024] NZFLR 870
Family violence — Temporary protection order — Variation — Seeking to return to family home to collect property needed for work — Sharing of items — Whether variation of order permitted under Act — Standard conditions of order — No contact — Whether variation otherwise inappropriate — Need for prompt substantive hearing — Family Court Rules 2002, rr 34 and 306; Family Court Act 1980, s 12; Family Violence Act 2018, ss 103, 108, 147(1), 147(3), 153(2)(b), 159, and 177.
|
Chou v Commissioner of Inland Revenue — [2024] NZFLR 885
Child support — Assessment — Proportion of daily care — Relevant “care cost percentage” — Appellant seeking assessment based on actual time in care — Interpretation of parenting order — Commissioner required by legislation to act prospectively — Common law position — Child Support Act 1991, ss 5, 102 and sch 2; Child Support Amendment Act 2013.
|
Volume 2025 Part 1 is now available online.
Jafarian v Nourbakhsh — [2025] NZFLR 1
Maintenance — Interim spousal maintenance — Iranian marriage — Marriage contract including term to pay wife $400,000 — Whether marriage contract precluding spousal maintenance claim — Iranian law — Mehrieh — Whether marriage “gift” or settlement — Effect of marriage contract in Iranian law and custom — Whether marriage contract resolving all property and money issues in Iranian law — Expert evidence — Whether Judge wrong to order monthly payment — Suffıcient funds to make payment — (INT) Iranian Civil Code, ss 1082, 1105, 1106 and 1133; Family Proceedings Act 1980, s 82.
|
GS v LM — [2025] NZFLR 19
Family violence — Protection order — Conditions — Firearms — Seeking removal of standard condition relating to firearms — Specialist firearms designer and manufacturer — Firearms licence revoked on granting of f inal protection order — Ability to earn living — Disqualification from holding firearms licence under Arms Act 1983 (Arms Act) — Relationship between Family Violence Act 2018 and Arms Act — Arms Act 1983, ss 22H, 23(1)(c), 27B and sch 1; Family Violence Act 2018, ss 98, 99, 157, 158, 159, 165, and 177.
|
Lane v Goldson (as executors of the estate of Gifford) — [2025] NZFLR 33
Wills — Administration of estate — Seeking to appoint Public Trust as administrator — Whether basis for removing executors — Whether credible claim against estate under Property (Relationships) Act 1976 — Seeking to enlarge estate — Family home not part of estate — Estate insolvent — Whether executor neglecting to prove will — Order nisi — Whether neglecting to seek probate — Whether estate wound up — Funding — Lack of evidence — Administration Act 1969, ss 19, 21, 65, 77 and 79; High Court Rules 2016, r 27; Family Protection Act 1955; Property (Relationships) Act 1976, s 88(2).
|
New Zealand Conveyancing and Property Reports
Volume 26 Part 3 is now available online.
Douglas v Body Corporate 102029 — (2024) 26 NZCPR 172
Unit titles — Cancellation of unit plan — Approval of scheme — Owners unable to agree on how to proceed — Weathertightness issues unable to be repaired — Cancellation of unit plan and sale of property or complete rebuild — Whether cancellation just and equitable — Scope of work to rebuild — Economic advantages of each option — Ability to raise funds — Hardship — Property Law Act 2007, s 339; Unit Titles Act 2010, ss 7, 74, 138, 187, 188, 339, and 342.
|
Sunnyside 2019 Ltd v Li — (2025) 26 NZCPR 193
Sale of land — Subdivision — Mistake on deposited plan — Incorrect lot number — Purported cancellation — Mistake by vendor in referring to wrong lot number in settlement statement and notice — Whether vendor ready, willing and able to settle — Whether valid objection to title made — Validity of settlement notice — Whether cancellation lawful — Summary judgment.
|
Peacocke South Ltd v Shum — (2025) 26 NZCPR 204
Sale of land — Nominee — Purchaser made nomination by deed — Purchaser’s nominee in turn nominating third party as nominee — Whether third party entitled to enforce agreement.
|
Newman v Dey — (2025) 26 NZCPR 223
Easements — Right of way — Modification — Shared driveway with right of way — Easement registered against shared driveway as separate lot — Easement not registered against residential land occupants of which enjoyed actual benefit of shared driveway — Standing to oppose application to modify easement — Distinction between land benefited by registration of easement and land enjoying actual benefit from easement — Standing limited to benefit of driveway as separate lot — Interest in residential land irrelevant to grounds of opposition — Discretion to modify easement exercised — Discretion to award compensation exercised — Award of negotiation damages — Interest in residential land irrelevant to assessment of compensation — Property Law Act 2007, ss 316, and 317.
|
Volume 26 Part 4-5 is now available online.
Stirrup v Rahurahu — (2025) 26 NZCPR 242
Caveats — Application to sustain — Caveatable interest — Applicant and respondent were sisters — Property registered in respondent’s name — Mother bequeathed property subject to conditional interest granted to father — Father died — Respondent remained registered following death of father — Applicant lodged caveat over title of property — Applicant claimed interest as specified residuary beneficiary under mother’s will — Applicant claimed alternative interest as beneficiary under trust following completed administration of mother’s deceased estate — Applicant had reasonably arguable case to support claimed interest — Residual discretion to remove caveat not exercised — Caveat ordered not to lapse —Land Transfer Act 2017, s 143.
|
Sole v Hutton — (2025) 26 NZCPR 256
Sale of land — Unit title — Warranties — Warranty that vendor has no knowledge or notice of any fact which might give rise to or indicate possibility of owner or purchaser incurring any other liability under unit titles legislation — Vendor had knowledge of reports obtained by external body corporate secretary in respect of watertightness issues with apartment balconies (weathertightness reports) — Vendor did not disclose weathertightness reports to purchaser — Warranty breached.
Sale of land — Unit title — Warranties — Warranty that vendor has not received any notice or demand, and has no knowledge of any requisition or outstanding requirement, from any other party affecting property — Weathertightness reports did not amount to notice or demand or requisition or outstanding requirement within ambit of warranty — Warranty not breached.
Sale of land — Unit title — Warranties — Warranty that information in pre-contract disclosure statement complete and correct — Vendor’s pre-contract disclosure statement satisfied requirements of reg 33 of Unit Titles Regulations 2011 — Vendor’s pre-contract disclosure statement thereby “complete and correct” for purposes of warranty — Warranty not breached.
Sale of land — Misrepresentation — Purchaser inquired of vendor’s real estate agent whether any “known issues” with building — Real estate agent made representations within scope of authority from vendor that no “known issues” — Representation referred to knowledge of vendor and not knowledge of real estate agent — Vendor had knowledge of watertightness issues by reason of watertightness reports — Misrepresentation established — Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, s 35.
Sale of land — Damages — Repair costs — Betterment — Assessment of betterment properly determined by reference to valuation evidence — Court must adopt impressionistic approach absent such evidence — Damages award reduced for betterment.
|
Routhan (as trustees of the Kaniere Family Trust) v PGG Wrightson Real Estate Ltd — (2025) 26 NZCPR 281
Real estate agent — Duty of care — Negligence — Scope of duty — Causation —Appellants were purchasers of dairy farm — Respondent real estate agent represented dairy farm had certain average production levels in three years before purchase date — Representation was wrong — Appellants relied upon representation in purchasing dairy farm — Appellants sold dairy farm, 10 years later, in sale forced by mortgagee — Claim for loss resulting from representations — Proper approach to determining which losses respondent had assumed duty for by making representation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Zealand Resource Management Appeals
Volume 2025 Part 7 is now available online.
Environmental Law Initiative v Environment Southland — [2025] NZRMA 362
Local governments — Functions, powers and duties — Preparing and publishing evaluation reports — Duty to gather information, monitor, and keep records — Relationship between requirement to prepare and publish evaluation reports and duty to monitor — Proper approach to performance of those functions by local governments — Resource Management Act 1991, ss 32, 35, and 86F.
Judicial review — Procedure — Challenge to performance of statutory functions by local government — Declarations appropriate to provide guidance to all local governments — Orders in nature of mandamus not appropriate — Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016, ss 11, and 12.
|
Belgiorno-Nettis v Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel — [2025] NZRMA 407
Application for leave to appeal — Costs — Indemnity costs — Judicial or quasi-judicial decision-makers — Good faith — Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010, s 167; High Court Rules 2016, rr 14.1, and 14.6.
|
Tasman District Council v Hogarty — [2025] NZRMA 413
Costs — Enforcement orders — Storage of chemicals and hazardous waste — Resource Management Act 1991, ss 285, and 316.
|
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki Inc v Hauraki District Council — [2025] NZRMA 420
Waiver of time to file appeal — Undue prejudice — Delay — Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Ltd Private Plan Change 6—Extension of Martha Mineral Zone to Hauraki District Plan — Resource Management Act 1991, ss 6, and 281.
|
Fenton v Auckland Council — [2025] NZRMA 430
Resource consents — Permitted activities — Light Industrial Zone under Auckland Unitary Plan — Dwelling used as workers’ accommodation — Proper approach to definition — Ascertainment of meaning of definition in light of sustainable management purpose — Auckland Unitary Plan, rr H17.1, H17.2, H17.3, H17.4.1 and H17.5 — Resource Management Act 1991, s 310; Legislation Act 2019, s 10.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Practical Guidance: Trusts
Latest Legal Updates
“Private rather than public resolution” High Court Judge wants family dispute over a bach dealt with in arbitration
|
Bill to remove trustee disclosure regime for trusts, but IRD can still use broader powers to place financial reporting obligations on trustees
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
|
|
|
|
Matthew Palmer
RRP* incl. GST: $200.00 $180.00
ISBN: 9781988546728 (book)
Publication date: December 2025
|
|
|
|
Bill Atkin and Shonagh Burnhill
RRP* incl. GST: $160.00
ISBN: 9781991015488 (book)
Publication date: November 2025
|
|
|
|
Mark Henaghan
RRP* incl. GST: $160.00
ISBN: 9781991015471 (book)
Publication date: November 2025
|
|
|
|
Mark Henaghan, Bill Atkin, Shonagh Burnhill, and Anna Chapman
RRP* incl. GST: $180.00 $162.00
ISBN: 9781991015228 (book)
Publication date: November 2025
|
|
|
|
Aiden Warren and Layne Harvey
RRP* incl. GST: $60.00
ISBN: 9781991015167 (book)
Publication date: October 2025
|
|
|
|
Medical, Health, and Mental Health
|
|
|
|
Jeremy Skipworth and Warren Brookbanks
RRP* incl. GST: $200.00
ISBN: 9781988598581 (book)
ISBN: 9781988598598 (eBook)
Publication date: November 2025
|
|
|
|
|
|
Did you know that our LexisNexis® training webinars are complimentary, delivered by our experienced team of training consultants and most are CPD compliant?
Visit our knowledge network for full list of upcoming webinars or register using the links below. New sessions on Getting Started with Protégé™ General AI coming soon.
|
|
|
|
Getting started with Lexis+ AI®
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
Lexis+ AI is an integrated solution for legal research, drafting, and insights. It combines the power of Protégé, a personalised AI assistant, with authoritative LexisNexis content to help legal professionals make informed decisions faster and deliver outstanding work. This session will provide attendees with an introduction to the Lexis+ AI platform and functionality, and how to make best use of the tool to maximise productivity and efficacy of your legal research.
In this session, we will cover:
|
- Differing between Extractive vs. Generative AI
- The 4 generative AI tasks in Lexis+ AI: Ask / Draft / Summarise / Upload
- Best practice for effective prompting with Protégé / AI Assistant (attend our Prompting workshop for multi-question prompting guidance)
- Searching across integrated experience dock
- Prompt and data security / LexisNexis GenAI Policy
|
|
|
|
Getting started with Lexis+
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
In this session, we provide an orientation to our platform Lexis+. Participants will learn how to harness the features of Lexis+ for greater legal research efficacy, in particular: the use of Lexis Answers®, finding legislation and its relevant case law and commentary using our Legislation Citator LexCite®; comparing different versions of legislation with Legislation Compare; and identifying critically relevant cases using the Leading Cases feature.
In this session, we will cover:
|
- Identifying the LexisNexis resources that users have access to and how to search across them
- Searching for case law for specific sections of commentary using Legislation Citator
- Finding leading cases using the Leading Cases feature
- Using Lexis Answers for natural language queries of case law
- Comparing legislation from two different points in time using the Legislation Compare feature
- Tracking research
|
|
|
|
Research Success with Lexis Advance
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
Become more skilled and efficient in your research. Join this session to explore effective methods of conducting searches on Advance to find commentary, legislation, and case law, understand the algorithm that runs behind the scenes, and apply advanced filters to generate effective results. Learn to set up alerts and folders, share documents, and customise your publications pod and favourites to ensure that your use of the platform is meeting your research needs.
In this session, we will cover:
|
- Adding/removing/sorting publications
- Searches for commentary, case law, and legislation
- Using Alerts
- Running specific search scenarios
|
|
|
|
|
Getting Started with Lexis® Create+
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
Lexis Create+ is a powerful personalised legal drafting tool that helps you build brilliant legal documents quickly and confidently, right where you’re working most often – Microsoft Word 365. This training session will take you through the key features of Create+ so you can streamline your drafting and boost your productivity.
In this session, we will cover:
|
- Identifying, selecting, and applying the key features of Create+ to your drafting workflow
- Searching across clause libraries to select and insert replacement clauses into your document
- Effectively drafting and updating a precedent using Create+
- Proofreading your document using proofreading tools and quickly identifying issues such as incorrect cross-references, missing or mismatched dates and numbers, errors in formatting, and lists
- Connecting with and using PDF conversion, redaction, and DocuSign document tools as required
- Accessing and applying features (Ask, Draft, Summarise) of Protégé to interrogate document
|
|
|
|
|
|
Effective Prompting with Lexis+ AI
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
Lexis+ AI is an integrated solution for legal research, drafting, and insights. It combines the power of Protégé, a personalised AI assistant, with authoritative LexisNexis content to help legal professionals make informed decisions faster and deliver outstanding work. This session will provide attendees with a step-by-step guide to creating and refining prompts for effective outcomes using Lexis+ AI.
Note: It is assumed that attendees have previously attended a Getting Started with Lexis+ AI webinar or have previous experience with prompting using GenAI tools.
In this session, we will cover:
|
- Ethical considerations and data security using Lexis+ AI (managing the risks of hallucinations, bad law, and bugs)
- Key requirements of an effective prompt in Lexis+ AI - clarity and structure
- Examples of effective and ineffective prompts when using Lexis+ AI functionality
- Best practice for follow-up prompts, refining, and expanding results
- Validating cited documents and best practices for evaluating AI-generated responses in Lexis+ AI
- Troubleshooting tips and best practices
- Q&A
|
|
|
|
Using Argument Analyser and Clause Intelligence
Register by clicking the preferred schedule below:
In this session, we provide an introduction to Argument Analyser and Clause Intelligence, powerful analytic tools that feature as add-ons to the legal research library on Lexis+.
You will learn how to analyse litigation documents using Argument Analyser to improve the efficiency and accuracy of your case law research. We will cover uploading documents for analysis, understanding the legal analysis of your document, and retrieving case law recommendations for further research.
You will also discover the features of Clause Intelligence, a powerful tool to uncover clauses in our forms and precedents library that help to speed up the drafting process and repurpose and review your documents quickly.
|
|
|
|
If this email was forwarded to you and you would like to subscribe to new content updates from LexisNexis New Zealand, please click the button below:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer: This service is intended to provide a summary of information recently made available on the LexisNexis online legal platform. The contents of Summing Up do not purport to be professional advice on any particular matter. The publishers therefore accept no liability for any claim or other action that may arise from the use of the information provided in this publication.
© LexisNexis NZ Limited . All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|
|
