The Briefcase Blog – Judicial Retirements to Ed Hillary’s Plate, Plus Hanover Deal and Diligent Class Actions
By John Bowie
The Retirement of Judge Clapham
Judge Clapham’s retirement following 18 years at the Manukau District Court, mentioned here a couple of weeks ago,
brought forth an observant and entertaining series of observations from the Judge concerning the state of the law and
his own career. Notable was the increase in business, a near 50% increase in the three years since he’s been there but
“judges need to refuse to be over burdened,” he said. He recalled his association with such courtroom greats as Sir
Robin Cooke, Mike Bungay, Bill Gazley , Roy Stacey and Sir John Jeffries among others He also self deprecatingly
recalled the “bollocking” from Chief Justice Sir Richard Wild for having the temerity to request an adjournment
following his a broken nose and ripped ear from a rugby mishap.
The Wild Plate
And talking of Wild judges, I happened upon an image of the new “Sir Edmund Hillary Shield”, the NZ-England rugby shield
presented by Lady Hillary and which drew the observation from cartoonist and writer Tom Scott, a close friend of Sir
Ed’s, as to who the hell had drawn Hillary’s beaming image. "It's like a very bad drawing of Daniel Boon,” Scott said.
In fact, I believe through some bizarre gaffe, the artist has drawn the image of highly accomplished judicial
mountaineer Justice John Wild. It’s definitely him. This is in fact The Wild Plate, which is a much more imaginative and
appropriate name in any event. Further, Justice Wild worked in London for some years and has close British connections.
This year I finally intend to tackle the mighty Takaka Hill by bike with His Honour and will make appropriate enquiries
and report back.
The Hanover Handover
What a crock this Hanover deal appears to be. Just why the same people who ran the show and took a king’s ransom from it
on the way through while the assets reduced about as fast as the Lombard loan book, should now receive creditor approval
to continue holding the reins is beyond me. Surely they’d be better partying back in Fiji? Where is the Securities
Commission in all of this? In terms of finance company losses generally, I’ve cast my eye over the legislation,
particularly section 37A of the Securities Act, which relates to voidable or irregular allotments. The section and gives
subscribers the ability to call for their money back where there has been a failure to refer to adverse circumstances
since their investment effectively making them preferential creditors, which would appear to provide a cause for action
in some of these cases.
Meanwhile, over at the Digilent Class Action
Christchurch solicitors Wakefield Associates, undoubtedly encouraged by Justice French’s recent favourable ruling on
litigation funding in relation to their Feltex class action, this week sent out nearly 700 letters to Diligent Board
Member Services shareholders regarding impending court action over the failure to disclose director Brian Henry’s
involvement with the 1980s company flop, Energycorp. Now the law firm is looking at adding the tort of deceipt to its
claim, related to the evident personal relationship between Brian’s brother Gerald and Diligent board member Sharon
Daniels. It should have been disclosed also, says Garry Wakefield and Chris McVeigh QC.
Lear Jets Over Featherston
Talking of Gerald Henry, his involvement in Energycorp and Epicorp, which was some dumb derivative of the former, is
memorable for me. I was peripherally involved in a meeting in the late 1980s with the Henry boys and Stephen Trott,
former adviser to John Spencer’s interests, who had left the offices for the airport. As I trudged my weary way home
along Featherston Street a glint in the crystalline Wellington sky caught my eye. It was the Energycorp Lear Jet,
ferrying the Henry-Trott contingent back to barracks in Auckland. Surreal, really.
Bain Again
Stand by for the forthcoming David Bain hearing before the Judicial Committee on December 8. Michael Reed QC has left
the country to fight the good fight. We’ll await the outcome with interest.
ENDS