Hesketh Henry

A recent High Court judgment is a cautionary tale for contractors that certain of their retentions clauses may be prohibited provisions under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 – risking their entire contractual retentions regime falling over and no retentions able to be held back.  #constructionlaw

Beneficiary classes in trust deeds should be clearly defined to ensure the assets of the trust benefit the people who the settlor(s) of the trust originally intended. If they are not, then disputes can arise, and the Court may be required to step in to decide who is a beneficiary and who is not. Emma Tonkin and Esmé Johnson Johnson discuss an example of where the Court’s assistance was necessary. Read more about it here. #TrustLaw

Hesketh Henry’s Insurance Team have double cause to celebrate. #LexisNexis #PracticalGuidanceInsurance #NZILA2024Conference

The increasing global frequency of extreme weather events and sanctions means parties may need to consider invoking force majeure clauses. The English Supreme Court in RTI Ltd v MUR Shipping BV [2024] UKSC 18 has clarified the parameters of such clauses requiring “reasonable endeavours” to overcome the event – and answered whether comparable but non-contractual performance is OK. Read our article for the answer and its practical implications. #tradeandtransport #forcemajeureevent #contractsofaffreightment

The English Court of Appeal has recently confirmed the Mackay v Dick principle is part of English law, meaning a party cannot rely on the non-fulfilment of a condition precedent to its debt obligation where it has caused non-fulfilment by breach of contract. This has potentially significant benefit in pursuing certain claims as debts rather than damages. We consider the implications. #marinedisputes #commercialcontracts

The good faith obligation for employers to provide ‘all relevant information’ really means just that – potentially even confidential information in a commercial agreement, as the Court of Appeal affirmed earlier this year in Birthing Centre Limited v Matsas [2024] NZCA 139. We summarise the Appeal Court’s decision and reasoning here. #employmentlaw #confidentiality #disclosure #confidentialinformation #redundancy #consultation

Our Employment Law team at Hesketh Henry is thrilled to welcome two new members! Madeline Wrigley has joined us as a Solicitor and Mary Weatherall has joined us as a Law Graduate. Both Mary and Madeline have hit the ground running, are already assets to our team, and are looking forward to working with you. Click the link below to read more about them and for a reminder of all the faces and details of our Employment Law team. #HHemploymentlawteam

Have you ever had to respond to work emails or calls, outside of work hours? Australia has this week implemented new “right to disconnect” laws which protect against consequences for workers not responding after hours. Alison Maelzer, Partner in the Employment Law Team, has spoken with RNZ about the new development and New Zealand’s position on this topic. Read her comments below. #employmentlaw #righttodisconnect

NEWSFLASH: Uber drivers are indeed employees! The Court of Appeal has today released its much-awaited decision in relation to the legal status of four Uber drivers (following Uber’s appeal of the Employment Court’s 2022 finding that they were employees). While it has been held that the Employment Court got the test wrong, the Court of Appeal arrived at the same result by different means. This case will have a wide-reaching impact, and it will be interesting how this affects the coalition government’s plans to review the law around the legal status of employees and contractors.  #employmentlaw https://lnkd.in/gGpmkbVU

Please join us in person at our offices or on Zoom for an employment law workshop. Our presenters, Alison Maelzer and Madeline Wrigley, will discuss the legal framework, plus various issues and red flags around Medical Incapacity. #employmentlaw #medicalincapacity