Litigation

If you have been disqualified or suspended from driving, you may be eligible to apply for a Limited Licence, or what is commonly known as a "work licence". A Limited Licence allows you to drive for a limited purpose such as driving to and from work, during limited times and days. A court may award a Limited Licence if it is satisfied that not granting it would cause you extreme hardship or cause another person undue hardship.

The New Zealand legal system is a common law system, based on the English system of justice. As a result, New Zealand, like England, Australia, Canada and the USA, adopts an adversarial court process. What this means is that the Courts are reliant on the parties to produce evidence and argue in favour of a particular version of events. Based on this evidence and argument from counsel, the Court will make a decision as to which party is right and which is wrong.

A High Court decision has highlighted the benefits of including an equitable mortgage in a supplier’s terms of trade.

Arbitration is often the mandatory process for resolution of disputes in commercial contracts. This article reviews the arbitration process and the advantages and disadvantages of this method of dispute resolution.

Common sense says that the first thing you should do after receiving a contract that you are being asked to sign, is to read it. You may be surprised to learn how infrequently this happens. This is especially so when the contracting parties have an established trading relationship.