Erwood v Harley

The Court of Appeal of New Zealand was asked to decide on three separate applications made by Robert Erwood in relation to ongoing legal proceedings. The first application sought to recall the Court's 2008 judgment declining Mr Erwood's application to set aside consent orders from 2003. The second and third applications sought extensions of time to appeal judgments delivered by the High Court in 2019 and 2021 respectively.

The Court considered whether Mr Erwood's recall application met any of the established principles for recalling a judgment, such as a change in relevant law or a failure to consider an authoritative decision. The Court found the application was meritless and would cause injustice to the respondents by reopening a settled matter from almost two decades ago.

The Court also considered the principles for extending time to appeal under the Court of Appeal Rules. While Mr Erwood argued he required a litigation guardian, the Court found his significant delays in progressing the appeals and the hopelessness of the appeals meant granting extensions of time was not in the interests of justice.

The Court ultimately declined all three applications and directed the Registrar to refuse any further applications from Mr Erwood in these proceedings. The judgments bring an end to over 20 years of litigation between Mr Erwood and the various respondents.