Advice and News
The latest from Molloy Batts's Expert Team
The content of these articles is general in nature and not intended as a substitute for specific legal advice.
Professional Disciplinary Prosecutions
A professional complaint is a serious matter. Not only is your reputation on the line but there can be significant and even career-ending consequences.
A huge number of jobs in New Zealand are professionally regulated. From medical professionals, lawyers, real estate agents and teachers through to social workers, plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers, all have a regulatory body that consumers, the public or other professionals can lay a complaint with.
Health and Safety
You don’t have to have caused an injury or fatality to be prosecuted
While successful prosecutions usually involve an injury or harm to a person, a failure to comply with a health and safety duty imposed on you is all that is required for a regulator to take action. A “near miss” can be enough.
Council prosecutions are nothing like a speeding ticket.
The fines imposed by the courts can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and have the potential to cripple a business.
Most council prosecutions are brought under either the Resource Management Act or the Building Act.
Council enforcement action begins with an investigation. That is the information-gathering stage where council officers try to confirm the nature and extent of suspected wrongdoing.
I have a dispute with my other shareholder. What are my options?
When the honeymoon is over...
Starting a new business and company is exciting, but what happens if you and your co-owners are no longer on the same page?
I often get approached by people who are ‘handbags at five paces’ with their business partner or partners. The common causes of a breakdown in a company are that one party is no longer pulling their weight. Or they may be taking an unfair slice of the cake. Or they are running the place as if it is their own without consulting the others.
I’ve been left out of my father’s Will – Can I make a claim?
Understanding the Family Protection Act in New Zealand
Families are complicated. In nearly 30 years in the law, I have seen every sort of disagreement imaginable. A mother and daughter who had a falling out after the wrong thing was said at Christmas dinner. A son who attacked his father with a spade after decades of putting up with his alcoholic behaviour.
Defending Your Dog
Unfortunately, New Zealand dog owners are regularly before the courts for alleged misconduct of their dogs. On average, local councils commence between 400 - 500 prosecutions in courts across the country under the Dog Control Act 1996, and of those prosecutions approximately 80 orders are made each year for the dog to be put down.
Is a Will written on a restaurant napkin good enough?
Validating a Will under section 14 of the Wills Act
We all know that a Will is a formal document. It is often prepared by a lawyer. But what happens when someone scribbles a few thoughts down on paper? Perhaps they write their own Will and sign it. Is close enough good enough?
