Yorston v Attorney-General

[2025] NZHC 2801

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA ROHE

CIV-2024-485-164

[2025] NZHC 2801

UNDER

Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017

BETWEEN

ALLAN MAGNUS YORSTON

Plaintiff

AND

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Defendant

Hearing:	On the papers
Judgment:	25 September 2025

JUDGMENT OF CULL J

[Access to Court documents]

[1]    Mr Maid has applied for access to documents relating to this proceeding under r 11 of the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017 (the rules). He requests access to the affidavits, the submissions and the disclosures by the Attorney-General, with Mr Yorston’s personal details redacted.

[2]    Mr Maid’s reason for accessing these documents is that he is bringing a similar claim in the High Court in his proceedings, Maid v Attorney-General CIV-2024-412-98. Mr Maid did not disclose whether he was making his application with the knowledge and consent of Mr Yorston.

[3]    Mr Maid’s request was referred to McHerron J, who granted an extension of time to obtain a response from Mr Yorston, as the documents sought contained references to his personal details. Mr Yorston has emailed the Court indicating he has no opposition to Mr Maid’s application for access.

YORSTON v ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2025] NZHC 2801 [25 September 2025]

[4]    The Attorney-General was served with Mr Maid’s application and filed a memorandum in response, noting that Mr Maid agrees to redactions to the documents to safeguard Mr Yorston’s privacy. Ultimately, however, the Attorney considers that the request requires Mr Yorston’s response. If Mr Yorston is agreeable to Mr Maid’s request, the Attorney has no objection to their release but draws the Court’s attention to r 12(d) of the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017 in particular.

[5]    Rule 12(d) provides that, of the matters to be considered by a Judge in granting access, the protection of other confidentiality and privacy interests and any privilege held by, or available to, any person should be taken into account.

[6]    The Attorney-General explains that the affidavits filed in this proceeding contain considerable personal and sensitive information about Mr Yorston, as do the submissions.

[7]    As the Attorney-General does not understand Mr Maid’s reference to “all disclosures by the Attorney-General”, she suggests that the following submissions are the most relevant to the issues that were ultimately determined by this Court, being the production of the criminal conviction history report by the Ministry of Justice. They are:

(a)Counsel for the defendant’s memorandum dated 12 September 2024 filed in advance of the hearing on 13 September 2024; and

(b)Counsel for the defendant’s memorandum dated 11 November 2024 filed in advance of the hearing on 14 November 2024.

Redaction of personal information

[8]    Although Mr Maid has indicated in his application that he is agreeable to the redaction of Mr Yorston’s personal information from the documents, if access is granted, the Attorney-General submits that the affidavits and the submissions would require considerable redaction to safeguard Mr Yorston’s privacy.

[9]    In the absence of Mr Yorston waiving his rights to privacy and/or confidentiality in respect of that information, considerable redaction to the documents is required. The onus of redacting this information, on the release of these documents, would be that of this Court’s Registry and the time to be dedicated to that task is beyond the Registry’s resources.

[10]   However, in the interests of Mr Yorston’s privacy and in the interests of the imparting of information in an orderly and fair manner (rr 12(a) and 12(f)), I consider that Mr Maid may have access to the documents on condition that he views the documents but does not receive or make a copy of any of those documents.

[11]   Under r 11(7)(a)(ii) of the rules, a Judge may grant a request for access to documents in whole or in part, subject to any conditions that the Judge thinks appropriate.

[12]   In the interests of balancing the  respective  interests  of  Mr  Yorston  with Mr Maid’s request under the rules, I consider he may be granted access to the requested documents, subject to the condition above.

Result

[13]   The application for access to the affidavits, submissions and memoranda filed by the Attorney-General in this proceeding is granted, subject to the following condition:

That the Court is to provide the applicant an opportunity to view the abovenamed documents but the applicant is not to receive or make a copy of any of the aforesaid documents.

Cull J