Application by Rickit

[2024] NZHC 3517

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA ROHE

D236/78

[2024] NZHC 3517

IN THE MATTER	of Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017
AND	An application by Christopher Murray Rickit

Hearing:	On the papers
Appearances:	Written request by Christopher Murray Rickit
Judgment:	22 November 2024

JUDGMENT OF RADICH J

Introduction

[1]                 Christopher Murray Rickit has made an application dated 19 November 2024 for access to court documents. He seeks access to all documents on the Court file relating to Aicken v Aicken D236/78, a divorce proceeding involving Margaret Irene Aicken and David Robert Aicken dating to 1978. It is said he needs these documents because:

I require documentary evidence to support an application to the Coroner for a declaration that the above named Respondent [David Robert Aicken] is dead. At the time of the divorce petition the Respondent had been missing circa   11 years. I presume the Petitioner [Margaret Irene Aicken] obtained an Order for Substituted Service based on her Affidavit evidence. Death certificate needed in order for grandchildren to obtain a Passport (Republic of Ireland).

APPLICATION BY CHRISTOPHER MURRAY RICKIT [2024] NZHC 3517 [22 November 2024]

[2]The file contains:

(a)Orders and judgments including an order that service on the respondent was dispensed with because he had not filed an answer and had not filed an address for service and orders relating to maintenance of their child.

(b)Notes of evidence;

(c)Documents from the petitioner: submissions, a notice put out by the petitioner for the respondent to reply to, an application for dispensing with service, and an affidavit that describes not having heard from the respondent for 10 years and the efforts she took to locate him.

Law

[3]                 Access to court documents is governed by the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017.

[4]                 Ordinarily, under r 8(1) the public has a general right of access to the formal court record relating to any civil proceeding. Under r 4, “formal court record” includes a document that “constitutes notice of its contents to the public” and any judgment, order, or minute, including any record of the reasons given by a Judge.

[5]                 However, r 7 applies. That rule provides (amongst other things) that a person may not access a document, court file, or any judgment or order that relates to a proceeding brought under the Family Proceedings Act 1980, or any former provisions corresponding to current provisions of that Act, unless a Judge is satisfied that there is a good reason for granting access. The proceeding here was brought under the Domestic Proceedings Act 1968, which was a precursor to the Family Proceedings Act.

[6]                 Therefore, there is no general right of access over any of the documents sought. However, a person with no general right of access may apply to access a document on the court file under r 11. A Judge may grant the request with or without conditions

after considering the nature of the request, the reasons given for it and each of the matters set out in r 12 that are relevant to the request or any objection to it.

Discussion

[7]                 The applicant has applied to access the documents for a limited purpose. It will help the petitioner’s grandchildren. The file as a whole is relevant to the application. The principle of open justice has particular weight here, given that the ultimate beneficiaries of the application are the grandchildren of one of the parties. Accordingly, the disclosure sought is necessary in the name of open justice and maintains the protection of privacy interests.

[8]                 I order that the applicant can access all documents on the Court file in the matter of Margaret Irene Aicken v David Robert Aicken D236/78. The documents will be scanned and emailed to him, on the basis they are solely used for the purpose described in the applicant’s application of 19 November 2024 and disclosed to third parties only the extent necessary to achieve that purpose.

Radich J