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Sweeney v Prison Manager, Spring Hill Corrections Facility

Sweeney v Prison Manager, Spring Hill Corrections Facility

Case [2024] NZHC 1361 28 May 2024

Misfeasance in Public Office

Damages

Judicial Review

Specific Performance

Unjustified Injury to Mana

Restitution

Administrative Law

Tort Law

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND HAMILTON REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA KIRIKIRIROA ROHE

CIV-2022-419-74

[2024] NZHC 1361

BETWEEN
PAUL TUKUNOA SWEENEY

Plaintiff

AND

THE PRISON MANAGER, SPRING HILL CORRECTIONS FACILITY

Defendant

Hearing: 29 April and 2 May 2024

Appearances:

S McKenna and B Burgess for Plaintiff K Hogan for Defendant

Judgment:

28 May 2024

JUDGMENT OF LANG J

This judgment was delivered by Justice Lang On 28 May 2024 at 9.30 am
Pursuant to r 11.5 of the High Court Rules Registrar/Deputy Registrar

Date:…………………………

Solicitors/counsel:
McKenna King Dempster, Hamilton
Crown Law, Wellington/K Hogan, Auckland

SWEENEY v THE PRISON MANAGER, SPRING HILL CORRECTIONS FACILITY [2024] NZHC 1361 [28 May 2024]

Introduction

[1] From October 2014 until April 2016 the plaintiff, Mr Sweeney, was employed by Care NZ (Est 1954) Ltd (Care NZ). That company had entered into a contract with the Department of Corrections (Corrections) to provide drug treatment services at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility (Spring Hill).

[2] Mr Sweeney’s role with the company was as an addiction counsellor. To enable him to carry out his role Corrections approved him for specified visitor status under regulation 91 of the Corrections Regulations 2005. This enabled him to provide therapeutic counselling services to prisoners with addiction issues at the Spring Hill facility.

[3] No issues arose until April 2016. However, on 19 April 2016 the director of the Spring Hill facility, Mr Christopher Lightbown, revoked Mr Sweeney’s specified visitor status. He did so after staff brought to his attention material Mr Sweeney had posted on his Facebook page. Corrections staff believed this suggested Mr Sweeney had a continuing association with the Mongrel Mob gang. An issue had also arisen after Mr Sweeney had visited an inmate in an area of the prison where he did not work.

[4] Revocation of specified visitor status meant that Mr Sweeney could no longer perform his counselling duties at the prison. Efforts by Mr Sweeney over the following nine months to persuade Corrections to reverse its decision were unsuccessful. Mr Sweeney began six months of unpaid leave in July 2016, and eventually left Care NZ’s employment in or about March 2017. Care NZ subsequently ceased to provide drug counselling services for Spring Hill when its contract expired on 31 March 2017.

[5] In 2019, Mr Sweeney issued judicial review proceedings against Spring Hill. He claimed that Mr Lightbown’s decision to revoke his special visitor status was unreasonable and unlawful. On 17 February 2021, Palmer J issued a judgment in which he upheld Mr Sweeney’s claim.1 In order to uphold Mr Sweeney’s mana and

1 Sweeney v The Prison Manager, Spring Hill Corrections Facility [2021] NZHC 181.

to vindicate his rights, Palmer J issued a declaration that the revocation decision was unreasonable and unlawful.2

[6] In this proceeding Mr Sweeney sues Spring Hill for damages in tort. He claims that in revoking his specified visitor status Mr Lightbown committed the tort of misfeasance in public office. He also asks the Court to…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Sweeney v Prison Manager, Spring Hill Corrections Facility

Details

AGLC: Sweeney v Prison Manager, Spring Hill Corrections Facility [2024] NZHC 1361
Case: [2024] NZHC 1361
Decision Date: 28 May 2024

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Paul Sweeney, an addiction counsellor, was employed by Care NZ to provide drug treatment services at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility. He was approved for specified visitor status, which allowed him to counsel prisoners with addiction issues. In April 2016, the facility's director, Mr Christopher Lightbown, revoked Sweeney's status following concerns about his Facebook posts suggesting an association with the Mongrel Mob gang. Sweeney's efforts to reverse the decision were unsuccessful, and he eventually left Care NZ's employment in March 2017. Sweeney sued for misfeasance in public office and claimed a novel tort based on unjustified damage to his mana. Sweeney's claim for misfeasance in public office failed as the evidence did not establish that Mr Lightbown acted with subjective recklessness regarding the unlawfulness of his decision or that he appreciated his actions would injure Sweeney. Sweeney also failed to establish that he suffered significant financial loss due to the revocation. The court rejected Sweeney's claim for a novel tort based on unjustified damage to his mana, noting that such a tort is not recognised in New Zealand law and that existing remedies were sufficient. Sweeney's claims were dismissed.

Orders