Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand

Negligence / Dog Control Act 1996 / Applicant and Respondent were neighbours / Applicant’s dog was attacked by a dog that came onto Applicant’s property / Dog belonged to the Respondent’s grandson / Applicant’s dog was injured in the attack and required vet treatment / Respondent’s grandson paid vet costs / Afterwards, Respondent installed a electric dog containment system / Applicant’s dog was attacked again by the same canine on the Applicant’s property / Attack dog was not wearing the containment collar / Applicant’s dog required vet treatment / Applicant sought $832.30 vet costs from Respondent / Held: Respondent was the registered owner of the dog when the second attack occurred / Attack dog did not have the containment collar on when the incident happened / Reasonable to infer lack of reasonable care by Respondent when the incident occurred/ Respondent legally liable for the Applicant’s dog’s injuries / Respondent ordered to pay $832.30 / Claim allowed.

Negligence / Applicant and Respondent involved in vehicle and e-bike collision / Applicant claimed reparations / Held: First Respondent negligently caused damage to Applicant's e-bike and property when Respondent failed to give way when turning right / Second Respondent breached her duty of care to other road users by allowing a suspended driver to drive her vehicle / Respondents ordered to pay Applicant $1999.00 / Claim allowed.

Consumer law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 / Applicant engaged Respondent to move household goods / Applicant claimed $8,774.00 being the cost of repair or replacement for items he said were damaged in transit by Respondent / Respondent stated work was undertaken on an owners’ risk basis and did not believe they had legal liability for the damage as damage was not intentional / Held: terms of the contract of carriage did not provide the Applicant with a remedy / Carriage of goods under the contract was undertaken at “owner’s risk” / No evidence to prove intentional damage / No basis for compensation to be awarded / Claim dismissed.  

Contract / Applicant and Respondent had arrangement where Respondent would subcontract Applicant to do work on its behalf / Parties had established payment arrangements where Respondent would make payment upon receipt of invoice from Applicant / Applicant issued invoice to Respondent which Applicant said Respondent had not paid / Respondent said they were not liable as they paid business belonging to Applicant's former employee who had directed them to do so / Applicant claimed for payment of invoice worth $19, 875.67 / Held: Respondent breached obligation to pay Applicant / Respondent deviated from payment arrangements in place between parties without notice to Applicant and Applicant did not receive payment / Respondents failed to exercise sufficient commercial caution or care in accepting instructions from Applicant's former employee about invoicing matters / Respondents did pay money but it has not paid Applicant's invoice in line with contractual arrangements and did not question …

Consumer law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Fair Trading Act 1986 /  Two families made a booking to stay at a property owned by the Respondent / On arrival they were unhappy with the state of the premises, including cleanliness and safety / Respondent offered to send people to remedy the issues, but the families decided not to stay / Families asked for a full refund, which was refused / Applicant, on behalf of the parties, claimed $1,642.50 from Respondent, representing a full refund together with $100.00 for travel expenses and $59.00 for filing fee / Held: property was not reasonably fit for a short holiday / Failure was of a substantial nature and could not easily be remedied within a reasonable time period / Offer to send contractors to remedy the issues was not acceptable given the purpose was for a three-day holiday / Applicant entitled to cancel without providing an opportunity to the supplier to remedy the problems / Since the families left the accommodation within a short ti…

Tort / Negligence / Applicant and Respondent were involved in a vehicle collision / Applicant and Respondent recalled conflicting versions of event / Applicant claimed cost of repair estimate plus towing and storage costs / Held: Respondent liable in negligence for collision as she was found guilty of careless driving at the District Court / No contributory negligence on Applicant's part / Respondent liable to pay remaining costs / Respondent ordered to pay Applicant's insurer $5976.41 / Claim allowed.

Consumer law / Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 / Applicant purchased a cooktop produced by Respondent / Two years later Applicant noticed rust, discolouration and a smell from the cooktop / Applicant raised issue with Respondent and a service visit was arranged / Respondent’s technician report indicated the stains were due to excessive oil spillage and provided cleaning suggestions / Applicant sought $3,299.01 refund for cooktop / Held: cooktop found to be of acceptable quality / Accepted that there had been discolouration and a smell from the cooktop / Discolouration and smell considered to be caused by user error and neglect of product / Claim dismissed.

Contract / Applicant purchased property from Respondents / Contract had clause warranting that vendor had not received notice or demand from any party / Property had water tank moved by Respondents and a drain prior to Respondent's ownership / Applicant said she asked Respondents prior to purchase if water tank overflowed and was told it had not / Respondents said Applicant had not asked them about any issues / Water tank overflow was not compliant and Applicant had to have overflow attached to public stormwater / Tank leaked after a storm and Applicant realised boundary drain was blocked and broken / Neighbour told Applicant that they had frequently discussed water overflow issue with Respondents / Respondent said these discussions had not happened / Applicant claimed $15,000 towards drainage repairs alleging that Respondent breached sale agreement by not informing her of issues / Held: Respondents had engaged contractor who issued compliance notice so to Respondent's knowledge the ta…

Fencing / Fencing Act 1976 / Applicant and Respondent own adjoining properties which had a hedge on boundary between properties for many years / Respondent removed or ordered removal of the hedge / Applicant claimed for order that Respondent pay for fence to be constructed on boundary / Applicant served fencing notice on respondent at first hearing for construction of fence on boundary at Respondent's cost / Respondent served cross-notice objecting to Applicant's proposal / Hearing adjourned for survey to be arranged with cost to be shared equally between parties / Respondent failed to pay share of cost / Held: Respondent was not entitled to remove fence as it was a fence in meaning of s 2 Fencing Act and had served as a dividing fence between two properties for a long time / Applicant is entitled to adequate fence on boundary / Respondent provided no reasoned objection to Applicant's desired fence / In line with Applicant's view, construction of 1.8m close boarded fence with boards on…

Consumer law / Accommodation / Applicant was a guest in the Respondent’s hotel /  After his stay the Applicant discovered two additional charges of $330.08 and $175.36 / When the Applicant queried the changes he was told the additional charges were credit card surcharges and to pay for cleaning vomit and dog poo from his room / Applicant, through an advisor, discussed the matter with the Respondent and $200 was refunded / Applicant sought $1,295.44, refund of remaining $305.44 and $990.00 for consultant / Held: Applicant was responsible for damage caused to the hotel by negligence by him or someone in his party / Respondent failed to establish that a dog was brought into the room / Accepted that the evidence indicated that the Applicant caused damaged justifying additional cleaning or repair / Respondent was entitled to charge an additional fee for the sheets / $60 was an appropriate fee to clean the sheets / $200 already refund by Respondent / Balance of $245.44, which included the cr…

Contract / Respondent 2 purchased a male French bulldog from Applicant 1 / Respondents agreed to rehouse a female French bulldog into their home / From this arrangement, the dog began breeding, increasing the number of dogs that eventually ended up in the Respondents’ home / Subsequently, the relationship between the parties soured, and Applicant 1 endeavoured to cancel the agreement / Applicant 1 sought the return of the dogs and or monetary compensation of $30,000.00 / The Respondents sought an order declaring the dogs as theirs and counterclaimed $26,445.00 for unpaid services and compensation / Held: Respondents breached the contract by retaining the litter of puppies / Applicant 1 breached the contract by failing to pay the Respondents for whelping services / Respondents must return the puppies to Applicant 1 / Ownership of the female dog is to be transferred to the Respondents / Applicant 1 must  pay the Respondents $750.00 / Claim and counterclaim partially allowed.

Contract / Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 / Applicant purchased a house from Second Respondents / Applicant discovered rot in windows and door framing and defects in fence and gates / Pre-purchase building report did not identify any problems with rot / Applicant claimed that Second Respondents deliberately concealed these defects / Applicant claimed $15,643.00 for cost of rectifying or replacing rotted and defective timber / Held: Second Respondents did not misrepresent the condition of the property as they were unaware of the specific areas of rot at the time of sale / Second Respondent had no obligation to disclose defects they were unaware of and there was no breach of the sale and purchase contract / Applicant failed to establish First Respondent real estate company had any involvement in this matter / Claim dismissed.