The strongly worded complaint to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner by litigation funder LPF Group, as reported in LawFuel last year, has been responded to with the Litigation Funder deciding to “take the matter no further at this point in time.”

Litigation Funding Group director Phil Newland wrote a nine page complaint to the JCC in November, regarding a dissenting decision issued by the Chief Justice in a Supreme Court decision regarding the action by the liquidator of developer David Hendersons PVC Group and their auditors, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which has since been settled.

Chief Justice Sian Elias delivered a dissenting judgment, saying the court should not deliver its findings following the settlement, saying it is “well-arguable that the litigation funding agreement in issue here is contrary to law”, although PwC had not requested that the funding matter be considered. The Chief Justice said it was “undesirable” for the court to give judgment as the dispute was settled and the scope of the argument had been constrained.

The LPF complaint noted that the judgment was seriously prejudicial to the company and the argument for litigation funding, also noting that Dame Sian’s husband, Hugh Fletcher, is chairman of IAG New Zealand, one of the main protagonists of the litigation funder in this country.

Speaking to LawFuel, Phil Newland said the Commissioner had responded to the complaint at the end of January.

“The Judicial Conduct Commissioner responded with a confidential response and we’ve decided to
take the matter no further at this point in time. That’s our decision.”