New Zealand Edition (5 November 2026)

Send us Fan Mail The Petal's New Zealand edition for Thursday 5 November 2026 carries 11 decisions newly reported from the High Court. Ten are aired, the four costs rulings grouped as one item. The thread is the price of each step: security for costs paid in stages so a claim can go on, a short-form procedure that did not fit a trust dispute, an appeal lost for unpaid security, costs that stayed on the scale, and sentencing discounts that, taken together, changed a sentence. Commercial Law Desk (lead). Wake Up Commercial Ltd v Extension Capital Ltd [2026] NZHC 2814 - security for costs under r 5.45 of the High Court Rules 2016 against a natural person plaintiff who conceded inability to pay: on the merits assessment, none of the Bowkett v Action Finance indicia of an unconscionable bargain were present (Stubbings v Jams 2 distinguished), the claims against the co-trustee mortgage adviser faced a broker's exclusion clause and a trustee exemption clause, and a shareholder and director cannot recover the company's losses (reflective loss); self-representation, conduct the Court found threatening and oppressive, the absence of public interest and self-caused impecuniosity favoured security; security confined to future costs, in staged tranches, with an automatic stay on non-payment. Applications granted; the claims continue (Associate Judge Cogswell, 15 September 2026). JADE Smith v McColl [2026] NZHC 3328 - leave to bring a review of trustees' disclosure decisions under s 126 of the Trusts Act 2019 by originating application declined under r 19.5(1): the procedure is exceptional in contested proceedings, suited to confined statutory issues, not to substantive rights, disputed facts or urgency; s 126 review aligns with the equitable supervisory jurisdiction, and information as of right is limited, beyond which disclosure turns on trustee determinations under ss 51 to 55; long-standing knowledge defeated the claimed urgency (Jagose J, 27 October 2026). JADE Practice and Procedure Desk . Bhana v Moses [2026] NZHC 3030 - an appeal under s 119 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 lies only for error of law; under r 18.13 of the District Court Rules 2014 the Judge must fix security for a non-legally aided appellant without any application, payable within ten working days of the conference where no time is directed, and a tender after dismissal is irrelevant; appeal struck out (Harvey J, 2 October 2026). JADE Yorston v Attorney-General [2026] NZHC 3392 - a non-party has access to the formal court record as of right under r 8(1) of the Senior Courts (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2017; further access is a balance of open justice against privacy and confidentiality; a vague research purpose, a party's objection and a wide request led to view-only access without copies. Granted in part (Grau J, 2 November 2026). JADE Costs, four rulings - Baker v King [2026] NZHC 2845 : complexity and multiple filings by the losing party do not of themselves warrant an uplift (Associate Judge Cogswell, 17 September 2026) JADE ; Moodie v Brandts-Giesen [2026] NZHC 3191 : no double costs for overlapping steps, no uplift for a short-notice bundle, costs of unrelated affidavits reserved to the substantive proceeding (Gardiner J, 16 October 2026) JADE ; Coulson v ASB Bank Limited [2026] NZHC 2856 : a pending appeal is no reason to reserve costs, which may be revisited if the appeal succeeds (Harvey J, 17 September 2026) JADE ; N