Attorney-General v Fleming - [2022] NZCA 358

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

I TE KŌTI PĪRA O AOTEAROA

CA371/2021
[2022] NZCA 358

BETWEEN	ATTORNEY-GENERAL Appellant
AND	CHRISTINE FLEMING Respondent

Court:	Cooper P
Counsel:	S V McKechnie and T J Bremner for the Appellant P J Dale QC for Respondent L T Meys as litigation guardian for J C F Anyon-Peters for Applicant
Judgment: (On the papers)	8 August 2022 at 2:30 pm

JUDGMENT OF COOPER P

AThe application for access to court documents on this Court’s file is granted so far as it relates to minutes, orders, judgments, pleadings and submissions. Counsel for the applicant is required to give an undertaking in the terms set out at [8]. The application is otherwise declined.
B There is no order as to costs.

____________________________________________________________________

REASONS

The Taikura Trust has made an application for documents held on the Court’s file in respect of this appeal, under the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) (Rules 2017).
The documents which are subject to the application are described as:
The court record and court file … including: court judgments and minutes, applications, pleadings, transcripts, evidence, and any further documents which are filed in relation to these proceedings.
The application states the reasons that the application is made in the following term:
Our client, Taikura Trust, is a party to similar proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority which were stayed pending the outcome of this proceeding. Although not a party to this proceeding, a senior executive of Taikura Trust gave evidence in the Employment Court in this proceeding.
Our client has a vested interest in the progress and outcome of the proceedings CA371/2021 as it will significantly impact (and perhaps be determinative of) the Employment Relations Authority proceedings to which Taikura Trust is a party.
The application contains a statement that the application is advanced on the basis that there could be an undertaking that any confidential documents were held only by counsel and not disclosed to the Trust.
A similar application was advanced in the Employment Court, whose judgment has given rise to the substantive appeal. In that Court, Chief Judge Inglis ruled the Trust could have access to minutes, orders and judgments made in the proceedings, but otherwise declined the application.[1]
[1]Fleming v Attorney-General [2022] NZEmpC 110 at [18].
A similar application has also been made in an appeal to be heard at the same time as this, CA742/2021 Director-General of Health v Peter Humphreys.
In a judgment delivered today, I have granted the application in that case on a limited basis, that is that there should be access to the minutes, orders, judgments, pleadings and submissions made as the appeal proceeds to hearing, but there should not be access to notes of evidence, affidavits, and briefs which form part of the record as it comes to this Court, because of confidentiality and privacy issues in respect of personal information.[2]
[2]Director-General of Health v Humphreys [2022] NZCA 359.
Similar issues as to confidentiality arise…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Attorney-General v Fleming

Details

AGLC: Attorney-General v Fleming [2022] NZCA 358
Case: [2022] NZCA 358
Decision Date: 8 August 2022 at 2:30 pm

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the Attorney-General appealed against a decision made by the Employment Court in relation to Christine Fleming. The case involved an application by the Taikura Trust for access to court documents related to the appeal. The Taikura Trust sought access to the court file, including judgments, minutes, pleadings, transcripts, evidence, and any other documents filed in the proceedings. The Trust argued that it had a vested interest in the outcome of the appeal, as it would significantly impact similar proceedings it was involved in at the Employment Relations Authority. The Trust also claimed that a senior executive had given evidence in the Employment Court, making it relevant to the proceedings.

The legal issues before the court were whether the Taikura Trust was entitled to access the court documents and, if so, to what extent. The court had to balance the Trust's interest in the proceedings with the need to protect confidential and personal information. The court had previously ruled in a similar case that access should be granted to certain documents but declined access to others due to confidentiality concerns.

The Court of Appeal granted the application for access to certain court documents, including minutes, orders, judgments, pleadings, and submissions, but declined access to notes of evidence, affidavits, and briefs due to confidentiality and privacy issues. The court required the Trust's counsel to provide an undertaking that any confidential information would be held only by counsel and not disclosed to the Trust. The application was otherwise declined, and there was no order as to costs.

Orders