Webb v Webb

[2018] NZHC 2423

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE

CIV-2018-404-001915

[2018] NZHC 2423

UNDER

the Cook Islands Act 1915

BETWEEN

ROSEMARY JULIA WEBB

Applicant

AND

PAUL NIGEL WEBB

Respondent

Hearing:	On the papers
Judgment:	14 September 2018

JUDGMENT OF COURTNEY J

WEBB v WEBB [2018] NZHC 2423 [14 September 2018]

[1]    Rosemary Webb has applied without notice for leave to commence an originating application. The originating application she wishes to commence is for the enforcement of a judgment of the High Court of the Cook Islands dated 26 October 2017.

[2]    The Cook Islands Act 1915 makes specific provision for the enforcement of judgments of the High Court of the Cook Islands in New Zealand.1 Specifically, a sealed memorial setting out the details of the parties, the proceeding and the judgment must be obtained by the High Court.2 Otherwise, s 142 relevantly provides that:

Leave to issue such execution may be given by the [High Court] on the application of the party by whom the memorial was filed and either ex parte or on notice to the party against whom execution is to be issued, as the [High Court] thinks fit.

Such leave shall not be granted unless the [High Court] is satisfied, by affidavit or otherwise –

(a)that the person against whom execution is to be issued was resident or present in the Cook Islands at the commencement of the proceedings in which the judgment was given; or

(b)that a cause of action in such proceedings or some material part of that cause of action arose in the Cook Islands.

[3]    The judgment that Ms Webb wishes to enforce in New Zealand is one for maintenance orders in her and her daughter’s favour against her former husband, Paul Webb. Judgment was originally given on 26 October 2017 and subsequently varied on 15 December 2017 and again on 9 March 2018. A memorial of the judgment (annexed to an affidavit filed in support of the application) was sealed in the High Court of the Cook Islands on 8 June 2018.

[4]    The enforcement of judgments under s 142 of the Cook Islands Act is not an enactment specified by r 19.2 of the High Court Rules as one that must be made by originating application. However, applications under the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act 1934 is such an application and the present application might reasonably be viewed as analogous.

1      Cook Islands Act 1915, s 142.

2      Cook Islands Act 1915, s 142(1) and (4).

[5]    The application is said to be suitable for an originating application because the provisions for enforcement under s 142 are limited so that full particularised pleadings will be unnecessary and pre-trial steps such as discovery unnecessary. Moreover, the issues are confined and there are no disputed factual issues. Nor is there any apparent prejudice to either party proceeding in this way. I am satisfied that this is a suitable case for an originating application and accordingly grant leave for Ms Webb to bring her application in that form.

P Courtney J