Ross v Family Court at Auckland

In the High Court of New Zealand, Auckland Registry, Mr. Ross, an applicant, sought the recall of a previous judgment made by Wylie J in Ross v Family Court at Auckland. The judgment in question was issued on 26 November 2021, and subsequently reissued on 9 December 2021 with additional anonymisation as per Mr. Ross' request. The respondents, the Family Court at Auckland and Mr. Stanley, consented to the application being dealt with on the papers. The core legal issue before the Court was whether the application for recall met the stringent criteria set out in the High Court Rules 2016, specifically Rule 11.9, which permits the recall of a judgment before it is formally recorded and sealed. The Court considered Mr. Ross' argument that the changed parenting arrangements between him and Ms. Stanley constituted a "very special reason" warranting recall. However, the Court found that such changes did not affect the legality of the processes followed by the judges in determining the matters before them and thus did not qualify as a basis for recall.

The Court further analysed Mr. Ross' various other grounds for recall, including his assertions that the Court had not given proper consideration to certain evidence and had erred in various procedural aspects. The Court held that these were challenges to the substantive findings and procedural correctness of the original judgment, matters that should be addressed through appeal rather than recall. It was concluded that Mr. Ross' application sought to relitigate issues already decided and did not meet the narrow criteria for recall. Consequently, Mr. Ross' application for recall was declined. Wylie J ordered that costs were to follow the event, with specific timelines provided for any applications for costs by the solicitors involved.