IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND

AUCKLAND REGISTRY CIV-2016-404-765
BETWEEN CULLEN GROUP LTD
Plaintiff
A COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE
Defendant
Date: 18 May 2018 (on the papers)
Counsel: Lawrence for Plaintiff

Coumbe QC and A Goosen for Defendant

 

MINUTE OF BREWER 
(Application to access Court file)

 

Solicitors:
Williams (Auckland) for Plaintiff
Crown Law (Wellington) for Defendant

 

 Mr Nippert, a reporter for the New Zealand Herald, has applied for access to
the documents on the Court file. In particular, he seeks copies of the statements of
claim and defence ?and evidence relating to Eric Watson?s alleged control of

Modena Holdings and Mayfair Equities?.
The Commissioner of Inland Revenue abides the decision of the Court.
Cullen Group opposes the application.

The application is governed by the Senior Courts (Access to Court
Documents) Rules 2017. Rule 12 prescribes ?the right to bring and defend civil
proceedings without the disclosure of any more information about the private lives of
individuals, or matters that are commercially sensitive, than is necessary to satisfy
the principle of open justice?. Further, as 13 makes clear, applications made before
the substantive hearing may require that access to documents be limited in the

interests of protecting con?dentiality and privacy.

I have decided that the application should be denied at this stage. First, the
trial has yet to be heard and there is a considerable amount of material on the ?le
which would be considered commercially sensitive. Second, on 20 December 2017,
Woolford delivered a Judgment discussing the case and dealing with applications
for discovery of documents. This is in the public domain and has been reported.
Therefore, the public is aware of the proceeding, who is involved and, broadly, what

is at stake.

In my view, balancing commercial sensitivity with the right of the public to
know what is happening in the Justice system, I consider there is little public interest

in giving Mr Nippert access to the Court file at this stage.

Mr Nippert is, of course, at liberty to attend and report all hearings of this
case held in open Court. This will include the trial. He may apply again for access

to the Court file once the substantive case has been heard.

 

 

Brewer