Carter v Jones

[2021] NZHC 2126

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND CHRISTCHURCH REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA ŌTAUTAHI ROHE

D770/1961

[2021] NZHC 2126

UNDER

the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017

BETWEEN

MEGAN CARTER

Applicant

AND

LESLIE ARTHUR JONES and VERONICA PEARL VIOLET JONES

Respondents

Judgment:	16 August 2021
(Determined on the papers)

JUDGMENT OF OSBORNE J

(Access to court documents)

Application

[1]    Megan Carter requests the leave of the Court to access the divorce file of her grandmother, Veronica Pearl Violet Jones, and Leslie Arthur Jones.

Discussion

[2]    Access to Court files is governed by the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017 (the Rules). Under r 7(1) of the Rules, a person may not access a Court file in relation to a divorce matter unless a Judge is satisfied there is good reason for permitting access, or the applicant is a party to the proceeding.

CARTER v JONES and JONES [2021] NZHC 2126 [16 August 2021]

[3]    The divorce file Ms Carter wishes to inspect dates from 1959. Ms Carter explains that Veronica Jones died in 2012. Mr Leslie Jones died in 1987 and is buried at Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.

[4]    Ms Carter resides in Brisbane, Australia and explains that she was recently contacted by children of her grandmother of whom she was unaware. Ms Carter hopes that access to the Court file will give her more insight into her grandmother’s life in New Zealand. With the death of Ms Carter’s grandmother, she has no other way of finding out what happened in respect of this aspect of her grandmother’s life.

[5]    It is important that people understand their family history and their wider family connections. I am satisfied that Ms Carter has a genuine and proper reason for access to the Court file.

[6]    Ms Carter was asked to identify the children of her grandmother who recently contacted her. Ms Carter has named them in an email. The file discloses that Veronica Jones and Leslie Jones had three sons born between 1949 and 1955. They are not the individuals who recently contacted Ms Carter. The three sons of Veronica and Leslie Jones would now be between 61 and 72 years of age.

[7]    Under r 12 of the Rules, the Court must consider several factors including the right of parties to bring civil proceedings without disclosure of any more information about the private lives of individuals, than is necessary to justify the principle of open justice. The Court is also required to consider the protection of confidentiality and privacy interests generally. Those considerations need to be assessed against the principle of open justice and the freedom to seek, receive and impart information. The Court is also entitled to take any into account any other matter that the Court thinks appropriate.

[8]    Once a hearing has been determined, open justice has greater weight in relation to documents that were relied on in determination of the proceeding than documents that were not referred to in the hearing.

[9]    In the late 1950s, divorce proceedings were held in open court. The file includes the notes of evidence given by Mr Jones where he records there were three children of the marriage. Accordingly, that fact was referred to in open Court. With the parties to the divorce proceeding having died, and with the fact they had three children referred to in open Court, I am satisfied there are no privacy reasons that should restrict access to the file.

[10]   An applicant to search a file may be required to file a written acknowledgement confirming he or she will not publish or distribute material obtained and agreeing to keep that material confidential within the family. I consider such a condition appropriate here. For the avoidance of doubt the condition will not restrict Ms Carter from communicating the contents of the file to Ms Veronica Jones’ children who have recently contacted her.

Order

[11]I order:

(a)leave is granted to Megan Carter to access the court file in the proceeding Jones v Jones, Supreme Court, Invercargill Registry, D No 770;

(b)as a condition precedent to such access, Megan Carter shall in writing undertake to the Registrar that she will keep the accessed material confidential within the family (being the descendants of the parties) and will not otherwise publish or distribute the accessed material.

Osborne J