Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand

Contract / Respondent contracted Applicant to repair leaks in his boat / Additional repairs were made by Applicant / Respondent refused to pay for additional repairs claiming that he did not authorise extra work / Applicant claimed for unpaid fees / Held: Applicant advised Respondent that additional repairs would be carried out at the Respondent's cost / Invoiced amount reasonable / Respondent ordered to pay Applicant $6,412.59 / Claim allowed.

Consumer law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Applicant purchased a laptop from Respondent / Advertisement stated laptop had two SSD slots, which was important to Applicant / Applicant checked with Respondent’s staff before purchasing, who confirmed laptop had two SSD slots / Applicant later discovered one SSD slot could not be used without a separate bracket / Applicant advised Respondent he was rejecting laptop as it was not fit for the purpose he had advised he was buying it for / Applicant claimed $2,000.00 refund / Held: Applicant made it known to Respondent that it was important to him the laptop had two SSD slots / Laptop was not fit for purpose Applicant had made known to Respondent, because it required bracket in order for second SSD slot to be useable / Bracket was not supplied with laptop or mentioned at time of sale / Applicant entitled to reject goods and receive a full refund / Respondent ordered to pay $2,000.00 / Claim allowed.

Negligence / Respondent collided into Applicant’s parked car / Applicant’s car had market value of $10,500.00 and was written off / Applicant reached settlement with her insurer receiving payment of $9,900.00, after $600.00 excess deduction / Applicant initially claimed $3,920.73,  $600.00 excess and balance owed to her finance company, but dropped excess claim due to insurance payment / Held: Respondent negligently caused damage to Applicant’s car / Applicant had been compensated for full market value of the car / Applicant not entitled to additional compensation for finance payments on original purchase / Payments would have been required to pay regardless of collision and not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of collision / Claim dismissed.

Consumer law / Quasi-contract / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Applicant, a foreign national, engaged Respondent, a law firm, for advice on purchasing property in New Zealand / Respondent advised regarding rules and processes for such purchases / Applicant paid $5,000.00 to Respondent for services / Applicant requested Respondent apply for “exception” to the rules / Respondent advised that was not possible and refunded Applicant $4,057.00, retaining $943.00 for time already spent on matter / Applicant claimed refund of $943.00, claiming he hired Respondent for specific purpose and Respondent had not done that / Held: $943.00 fee was reasonable price for service provided by Respondent / Claim dismissed.

Contract / Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 (CCLA) / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Building Act 2004 / Applicant purchased two houses from Respondent, a supplier and installer of second-hand houses / One house was damaged during move when its roof made contact with a tree / Applicant claimed $8,735.00 against Respondent / Respondent disputed liability, claiming Applicant failed to cut tree as requested by Respondent to allow access for Respondent’s truck / Held: contract between parties did not specify what kind of contract for carriage was agreed, therefore by default it was carriage “at limited carrier’s risk” / CCLA imposed liability on Respondent because Respondent was carrier and house was carrier’s responsibility / Respondent therefore liable for damage caused to house / CCLA limited liability to $2000.00 / Respondent ordered to pay Applicant’s insurer $2000.00 / Claim allowed in part.

Contract / Misrepresentation / Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 / Applicant purchased a steer from Respondent for $600.00 / Steer turned out to be a rig which put her cows at risk of getting pregnant / Applicant claimed $2393.15 for vet costs associated with possible pregnant cows, vet bill for desexing the rig (who died during surgery) and costs to bury the rig / Held: Respondent misrepresented the animal to the Applicant inducing her into buying it / Fair and reasonable amount for vet related costs was $902.25 / Claim for burying costs was dismissed as the Applicant had other options of destroying the beast / Respondent ordered to pay Applicant $902.25 / Claim granted in part.

Negligence / Applicant claimed his car was damaged by a runaway trolley in a supermarket carpark run by the Respondent / Applicant claimed $711.25 for repair costs and $45 filing fee / Held: insufficient evidence to establish that Respondent was negligent / Likely another customer left the trolley in an insecure position / Unreasonable to expect a supermarket to employ enough staff to immediately move every wrongly placed trolley / Claim dismissed.

Consumer law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Applicant purchased tablets online from Respondent in 2023 / After she had taken most of the tablets, Applicant discovered tablets had an expiry date from 2022 / Applicant contacted Respondent about her concerns / Applicant remained concerned that the expired tablets may have had a detrimental effect on her health, and that she may have been sold expired products in the past / Applicant sought $12000 in compensation, based on likely profits made by the Respondent on Applicant’s past orders / Held: tablets were not of acceptable quality as they had expired / No evidence provided to support loss claimed by Applicant / Amount of compensation claimed not justified / Respondent offered Applicant a $100 gift voucher / Voucher offer was reasonable / Respondent ordered to send Applicant $100 gift voucher / Claim allowed in part.

Contract / Consumer Law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Applicants booked international travel with Respondent airline / One flight in the journey was delayed for 17 hours and 40 minutes due to a hydraulic leak / Applicants claimed $7,624.38 for various costs, including for lost wages due to extra delay in transit, cost of traveling back to the destination to recoup one day’s missed holiday, time spent dealing with Respondent to seek compensation, and costs associated with Tribunal hearing / Respondent had reimbursed Applicants for some costs associated with delayed flight, including reimbursing cost of the flights themselves despite not being legally required to do so, less an outstanding $216.00 that it had been unable to credit to a credit card / Held: Applicants’ claimed losses were not reasonably foreseeable, therefore Applicants not entitled to compensation / Tribunal costs unable to be awarded in circumstances / Applicants to provide bank account details to Respondent for outst…

Contract / Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 / Applicant rented a room in Respondents’ house / Respondents entered Applicant’s bedroom several times when she was not there / When Applicant’s security camera notified her this happened in the middle of night she decided to move out without giving notice / Applicant sought $1,999.00 for bond, rent, accommodation costs after moving out and compensation for emotional distress / Respondents counterclaimed for damage to a door, utility costs and extra charges for Applicant’s partner staying overnight / Held: Applicant entitled to cancel contract without notice / Respondents breached Applicant’s right to quiet enjoyment of her room multiple times / Breach sufficiently serious for Applicant to cancel contract immediately / Applicant entitled to bond refund and advance rent payment, total of $1,362.88 / Respondents not liable for any other amount / Applicant liable to Respondents for $35.71 for her partner staying overnight, as earlier agreed…

Contract / Applicants engaged the Respondent to build their home / After build was completed the total build price was more than the Applicants expected / Applicants considered they had been overcharged 10% extra for labour / Applicants sought refund of $30,000 / Held: no  ambiguity in contract clauses / Respondent entitled to charge labour rates plus margin of 10% / Respondent entitled to proceed with building on the basis that terms of the contract had been agreed upon / Claim dismissed.

Negligence / Personal injury / Accident Compensation Act 2001 / Applicant claimed dog scratched her vehicle / Applicant brought dog inside to wait for Respondent / Another dog came into café, causing Respondent’s dog to rip leash out of Applicant’s hand, injuring her / Applicant claimed Respondent agreed to pay to repair scratches in her car’s paintwork / Respondent claimed there had been a muddy mark on Applicant’s car, and that she offered to pay for a cut and polish / Applicant and her insurer claimed $5,643.63 for repairs / Held: Applicant failed to prove scratches on car were done by Respondent’s dog and were not pre-existing / Applicant entitled to cut and polish as promised by Respondent / $250 reasonable amount for that task / ACC has exclusive jurisdiction over personal injury claims, so Tribunal unable to hear claim relating to Applicant’s injury / Respondent ordered to pay $250.00 / Claim allowed in part.

Contract law / Respondent ordered a roof louvre and track blinds from third party / Paid 50% deposit / Before blinds were delivered or installed, third party went into liquidation / Director of Applicant also director of third party / Applicant arranged for installation of the louvre in accordance with new agreement / Respondent paid invoice but deducted $3072.80 as the Applicant had not supplied the blinds / Applicant claimed outstanding amount / Held: Applicant had provided goods and services in accordance with new agreement / Although Applicant and third party shared the same director, one company not liable for the obligations of the other / Any offer from Applicant to take on the obligations of third party was subject to new contract / Respondent ordered to pay Applicant $3072.80 / Claim allowed.