Enforcement of foreign child maintenance orders: Ku v Pittman There are several different regimes in New Zealand that apply to the enforcement of overseas child maintenance. This means it is important to work out in each case which regime may be applicable. There are: the common law regime on enforcement of foreign judgments, which, in […]

On 12-13 March 2026, the Faculty of Law at the University of Canterbury is hosting the “Christchurch Conference on International and Transnational Legal Frameworks 2026”, which brings together the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law […]

Fraud in foreign judgments (By Jack Wass, Stout Street Chambers) The New Zealand Court of Appeal recently released an important judgment concerning the circumstances in which the New Zealand court may refuse to recognise a foreign judgment on the ground that it was procured by fraud. Shi v Hebei Huaneng Industrial Development Company Ltd [2025] […]

(By Jack Wass, Stout Street Chambers) Trans-Tasman jurisdiction disputes – a wrong turn  The fundamental reform of the TTPA The Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 fundamentally reformed the approach to civil proceedings involving New Zealand and Australia. It recognised that approaching trans-Tasman disputes in the same way as disputes involving other foreign countries did not reflect […]

(By Maria Hook)  Please click here for a pdf version of this post.  I              Introduction [1] Can a party who is located overseas be in contempt of the New Zealand court? The purpose of this piece is to sketch out an answer to this question. I use the term “overseas” to refer to parties who […]

By Jack Wass (Stout Street Chambers) In the recent decision of Sunnya Pty Ltd v Mega Aqua Limited [2025] NZHC 3482, the High Court was asked to grant an order directing a New Zealand company and its New Zealand-resident director to comply with an Australian subpoena that had been issued in contempt proceedings pending in […]

By Maria Hook (Please note that I am the sole author of this post. It is not the work of Jack Wass, co-editor of this blog, who acts as counsel in Kea.) On 5-6 November, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision in Wikeley v Kea Investments Ltd [2024] […]

(By Jack Wass, Stout Street Chambers) The Employment Court has recently clarified a short but important point about the appropriate procedure to be followed by a defendant who is served within New Zealand but contends that there is another more appropriate jurisdiction overseas. A defendant in that position is not entitled to file a notice […]

(By Jack Wass, Stout Street Chambers) The Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in Yoonwoo C & C Development v Huh [2025] NZCA 209 clarified the limitation period for enforcement of foreign judgments, and in the course of its analysis made some valuable observations on the theoretical basis for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments […]

(By Maria Hook) The New Zealand Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal against a permanent anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunction in relation to a default judgment from Kentucky, which the plaintiff alleged had been obtained by fraud: Wikeley v Kea Investments Ltd [2024] NZCA 609. The Court upheld the findings of fraud. It also did not […]