In an age where time is of the essence and personal schedules are tightly packed, the reliability of transportation services is paramount. Late departures by trains, buses, flights, and other means of transportation have become a common concern for consumers around the world. The rights of consumers when faced with tardy departures are not to be taken lightly.

Woolley v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd: The Exercise of Contractual Discretion‍On 29 June 2023, the New Zealand Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in the case of Woolley v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd [2023] NZCA 266. In its judgment, the Court considered the approach to the exercise of contractual discretion in New Zealand, including the test adopted by the United Kingdom Supreme Court in Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd [2015] UKSC 17, [2015] 1 WLR 1661. A summary of the key facts of the matter and important points in the Court's decision follow.

Awards of costs in civil proceedings are at the court’s discretion. The general costs rule is simple: the unsuccessful party is required to pay costs to the successful party. The award of costs is normally made on a 'scale' basis – the scale comprising certain daily rates and certain time allocations for certain steps in a proceeding, both prescribed in schedules to the courts publishes rules of procedures. This, in practice, means that a party to a proceeding will always incur irrecoverable costs to some extent. Much less frequently, awards of costs are made on an indemnity basis, so the unsuccessful party must pay the actual legal costs incurred by the successful party.

If the purchaser discovers a defect with the property or breach of the sale and purchase agreement by the vendor just days before settlement is due, what can the purchaser and vendor do in that situation? Can the vendor force settlement? Should the purchaser be allowed to claim a reduction in the purchase price? The claim for compensation provisions were designed to achieve both objectives, requiring settlement to occur subject to some adjustment of the purchase price payable on settlement.

The Government is once again looking to impose further statutory controls over how contractors are to handle and protect retention moneys owed to its sub-contractors - this time with civil monetary penalties facing the construction companies and their directors for non-compliance.

Many in the construction industry will be feeling frustrated at the latest lockdown slowing down projects and progress. Fortunately, not everything has to be put on pause. The Construction Contracts Act 2002 ("CCA") provides ways to recover money during lockdown.

It is a fairly familiar situation: an employee sustains an illness, or suffers an injury – probably due to no fault of their own or their employer - and is unable to work for a long period of time. Uncertainty may arise about when he or she can return to work, if ever. Repeated visits to a doctor or specialist, frustratingly for both the employee and the employer, fail to provide a definite prognosis about when the employee will be fit to return to work or, indeed, whether they will ever be able to do so. Meanwhile the employee may be receiving no income, or less than their full former salary or wage while receiving an ACC benefit. The employer is also left in the difficult and uncertain position of not being able to hire a permanent replacement employee but needing to reassign the absent employee's tasks to others, or make do with a potentially more expensive temporary employee.

The Covid-19 Lockdown is a unique situation that continues to change rapidly and this raises a number of questions and concerns for people, especially in the employment space. The situation surrounding Covid-19 requires flexibility from both employers and employees.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has released a discussion document late last year, inviting public consultation on an important subject affecting a large sector of New Zealand's working public: self-employed 'independent contractors', and companies and people who engage the services of such independent contractors, not just in the course of business, but even in some cases individual consumers utilising those services, for example ordinary member of the public using a 'ride sharing' platform. The deadline for members of the public to provide their feedback to MBIE expires at 5.00 pm on 14 February 2020.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Right Honourable Helen Winkelmann, has assured the legal profession and members of the public that the Courts will be operational during all Covid-19 alert levels, including lockdown during alert level 4: "Courts are an essential service. New Zealand courts must continue to uphold the rule of law and to ensure that fair trial rights, the right to natural justice and rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act are upheld."

There is an important update on the health and safety requirements in the construction sector we wish to share with you if you have not yet been updated. Over the last few weeks, the situation with Covid-19 in New Zealand has noticeably improved. However, it is too soon to celebrate, and there is no room for complacency as we will still be under Covid-19 Alert Level 2, starting this Thursday 14 May 2020. It will remain critical, perhaps more than ever, for everyone in the construction industry to take all necessary steps to keep the virus under control until we are down to Alert Level 1.

From 6 May 2019 employers who have failed to record their individual employment agreements in writing will be liable for an infringement offence under the Employment Relations (Infringement Offences) Regulations 2019.