Combined Beneficiaries Union Inc v Auckland City COGS Committee

Combined Beneficiaries Union Incorporated (the CBU) sought to appeal a decision of the High Court that had found that the CBU's rights to natural justice had been breached but had declined to award damages. The CBU argued that the refusal to award damages was wrong in principle and that the High Court had misconstrued the scope of s 27(1) of the Bill of Rights Act 1990. The respondents cross-appealed against the finding of the High Court that s 27(1) had been breached. The Court of Appeal held that the appeal and cross-appeal should be dismissed. The CBU's argument that s 27(1) of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 guaranteed a right to natural justice that was at least as wide as that at common law was upheld. The respondents' argument that s 27(1) applied only to "adjudicative" processes was rejected. The Court of Appeal held that the High Court had been correct not to award damages. The breach was not egregious and the purposes of Bill of Rights damages would not have been served by an award of damages in this case.