Our Work

Pernod Ricard warranty dispute with Lion
Acting for Pernod Ricard in relation to disputes arising from the 2010 sale of a number of Pernod Ricard’s wine related assets (including the popular Lindauer and Corbans brands) to Lion. The High Court ruled in Pernod Ricard’s favour on all of the claims in dispute, including requiring Lion to reimburse Pernod Ricard $14 million in respect of excise incurred on the supply of stock under the deal, and dismissing Lion’s counterclaims for breach of warranty.

Alesco New Zealand
Acting for Alesco New Zealand in the High Court and Court of Appeal from a refusal to set aside a tax reassessment of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue based on the contention that the use of optional convertible notes to fund New Zealand acquisitions was a tax avoidance arrangement.

Price fixing defence
Acting for Air New Zealand in its defence of proceedings brought against it and other airlines by the Commerce Commission alleging price fixing in the air cargo market.

Luxottica Fair Trading proceeding against Specsavers
Acted for Luxottica Retail New Zealand in Fair Trading Act proceeding against Specsavers New Zealand alleging misleading advertising under the Fair Trading Act 1986, which culminated in the successful appeal against a High Court summary judgment. The dispute then settled.

Sovereign Assurance Company Limited - Commissioner of Inland Revenue
Acting for Sovereign Assurance in an unsuccessful tax challenge proceeding for Commissioner’s disallowance of tax deductions claimed on commission repayments made under life reinsurance treaties. The matter is now under appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Singapore Airlines Cargo
Acting for Singapore Airlines Cargo in proceedings brought by the Commerce Commission under the Commerce Act against a number of cargo airlines alleging price fixing.

Defence of prospectus liability claim
Acting for the former directors of Feltex Carpets in defending the ongoing prospectus claim brought by a group of investors. This is the largest prospectus liability claim ever brought in New Zealand.

PHARMAC Judicial Review proceedings – AstraZeneca Ltd
Acted for PHARMAC in successful judicial review proceedings issued by AstraZeneca Limited challenging a number of decisions made by PHARMAC regarding funding of treatments for asthma.

Finance Companies including Bridgecorp Finance Limited (in receivership) and Nathans Finance (in receivership)
Acted for the receivers of a number of finance companies on litigation matters, including bringing recovery claims against directors of Bridgecorp Finance and against the directors and auditors of Nathans Finance.

Sir Robert Jones – appeal by accountants on negligence award
Acted for property investor, Sir Robert Jones, on an unsuccessful appeal by his former accountants against a decision awarding him over $5m in relation to their negligence.

ProvencoCadmus Limited
Acted for the receivers of the ProvencoCadmus group of companies. A large number of former employees have brought numerous class action proceedings against the group companies, including claims alleging joint employment.

Lyttelton Port industrial action
Successfully advised and represented Lyttelton Port Company in relation to industrial action, which had spread from a major industrial dispute over renewal of a port worker’s collective agreement between the Maritime Union and Ports of Auckland.

Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand Inc - New Zealand Fire Service Commission
Acted for IBANZ in successful proceedings for declaratory judgments regarding the interpretation and application of the levy provisions of the Fire Service Act 1975 to two classes of material damage contracts of insurance.

Overseas Investment judicial review challenge
Acting for the Crafar Farms Independent Purchaser Group in its Court of Appeal case seeking judicial review of the Overseas Investment Office's application of the business experience and acumen test in the Overseas Investment Act when it assessed the Shanghai Pengxin application.

Queenstown Airport judicial review proceedings
Acted for Air New Zealand against Queenstown Lakes District Council & Ors in a judicial review of the lawfulness of conduct of both the Council and its council controlled organisation (the airport company) under the Local Government Act 2002. A settlement just before trial ensured that the majority ownership and control of Queenstown Airport remained with the Council.

Authorisation defence
Acted for Cavalier Wool Holdings in the High Court, which dismissed an appeal by Godfrey Hirst against a Commerce Commission authorisation for Cavalier to acquire the wool scouring assets of Wool Services International.

Directors’ defence
Acted for the former directors of Feltex Carpets in successfully defending an attempted prosecution by the Registrar of Companies under the Financial Reporting Act.

Takeover proceedings
Acted for Horizon Energy in proceedings before the Takeovers Panel relating to a failed takeover of Horizon by Marlborough Lines, and in subsequent judicial review proceedings issued by Marlborough Lines challenging the decision of the Takeovers Panel.

Osmose New Zealand
Acted for Osmose New Zealand in a high profile defamation claim. Settlement was reached on the first day of a trial that was scheduled to run for six weeks.

Carter Holt Harvey
Acted for the plaintiff Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) in a major claim in the High Court at Auckland against Genesis Energy and Rolls-Royce concerning the Cogeneration Plant built at CHH's Kinleith Pulp & Paper Mill. Having led all CHH's witnesses, our team was mid way through cross-examining the first defendant's witnesses when settlement was reached. In terms of evidence and cross-examination, this case (even though it was settled during trial) was the longest running civil litigation ever in New Zealand.

Commerce Commission credit card investigation
Advised ANZ National Bank in proceedings brought by the Commerce Commission under the Commerce Act against all the major banks, Visa and Mastercard concerning price-fixing of multilateral interchange fees. A settlement was reached.

Access Brokerage Limited (In Liquidation)
Acted for the Bank of New Zealand and the liquidators of Access Brokerage Limited, KordaMentha, on the liquidation of Access Brokerage, including advising on the trust claims of clients of Access Brokerage.

Te Arawa Treaty of Waitangi settlements
Bell Gully acted for Te Arawa in both the Waitangi Tribunal and the Courts in several challenges to its proposed settlement with the Crown. Bell Gully successfully defended all challenges and Te Arawa was able to conclude its settlement with the Crown.

Woolworths' takeover of The Warehouse
Bell Gully advised Woolworths (Australia) Limited on its potential acquisition of up to 100% of the shares in, or assets of, New Zealand’s largest general merchandise retailer, Warehouse Group Limited. Bell Gully advised Woolworths in its application to the Commerce Commission for clearance to acquire the Warehouse, its appeal to the High Court over the Commission's decision to decline that application and the Commission's subsequent appeal of the High Court's decision to the Court of Appeal.