Marfart v Television New Zealand no.2 CA92/05

The Court of Appeal of New Zealand considered an appeal brought by Alain Michael Yves Mafart and Dominique Angela Francoise Prieur against Television New Zealand Limited. The appeal sought to overturn a decision by Simon France J in the High Court that allowed the respondent to search and copy certain video tapes. The appellants argued that the decision infringed upon their privacy and that the respondent had already broadcasted the footage in question, contravening the court's earlier orders.

The court was tasked with determining whether to grant an interim stay of execution of its earlier judgment, and the judgment of Simon France J, to prevent further broadcasting of the footage by the respondent. This was necessitated by the respondent's actions in locating and broadcasting the footage after the Court of Appeal's decision was delivered. The court had to consider whether there was a valid order for a stay from the Supreme Court, as suggested by counsel for the respondent, but no such order was evident in the record. The court also had to decide whether it could stay the order permitting access to, and copying of, the tapes given that this had already occurred.

The Court of Appeal decided to grant an interim stay of execution of its judgment and the earlier judgment of Simon France J for 14 days. The stay was necessary to allow the Supreme Court to clarify whether there was a stay in place. During this period, Simpson Grierson was to hold the tapes in safekeeping for the Court, and the video extract from the respondent's website was to be withdrawn. The court also made it clear that any application for a variation of these orders would need to be made to the Supreme Court on notice. The court reserved the right to grant leave to apply on short notice if there were any difficulties in implementing these interim orders.