We were in court a couple of weeks ago and finally it seemed that the Judge realized just how much of a crock this case is. The summary of accounts still had not been done and the index of evidence had not been received. In addition he asked the question as to How HNZ had laid the charges without having first done the summary of accounts and if they just laid the charges in the hope that we were going to plead guilty.
He made an order for the documents to be produced and stated that if these were not provided he would be open to a request from us to have the charges dismissed.
Today we had the a hearing to see if this had happened and, 2 days ago we received the summary of accounts however I have not yet seen them so have no idea what they/it is. In addition we have been informed that they can not provide the index of evidence as there is none. Now we have the summary of accounts we can move forward and have a forensic accountant look at the figures.
We asked for time to do this however the Judge stated that a fixture of 4 days has all ready been set and that this was not going to be changed. We have 2 months to deal with this and I am quite concerned that this will not be enough time. However from their summation in court the figures are pretty dismal.. Given that we know HNZ are trying to get a conviction their figures are going to be based in favor of a conviction. The prosecutor in summary told the judge that the income derived over this time was $43K. that's a combined income.... 3 kids, 2 adults. the figures my accountant has come up with differ from this greatly however even working on these figures and recalculating the income based on their figures their total claim is not correct.
We have also received a claim against us from Baycorp for 81K as HNZ have now lodged the debit regardless of the fact this has not been to court. Oh and yes the person who lodged the claim with baycorp was our wonderful ex tenancy manager who kicked this whole vexatious thing off Katrina O'Conner.
Andrew, I came across your blog by chance. I don't know you and I have only looked back on your last handful of postings, but I make a couple of observations.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the merits or otherwise of the allegations it is making against you, it seems to me that HNZ is abusing its position by withholding all relevant information, thereby preventing you from mounting a proper defence to the charges. This behaviour alone shoud be sufficient for the Court to dismiss the case. You are in an intolerable position.
That HNZ should lodge a default with a debt collection agency whilst the matter remains with the Courts is particularly concerning, I would encourage you to raise this at the Court hearing. Some years ago I was overcharged for work performed by a plumber. I sent him a cheque for the amount I thought was reasonable and he refused it. I lodged a complaint with the Disputes Tribunal and he was promptly served notice by the Ministry of Justice to appear. Instead he instituted collection action with Baycorp. I advised Baycorp the ammount was in dispute and a complaint was before the Tribunal. Baycorp (as is is required to do) removed the claim from my credit file and refused to act on the plumber's request for collection.
At the Disputes Tribunal hearing (which the Plumber chose not to attend) I raised the matter of the plumber placing his disputed account in the hands of Baycorp. The Adjudicator was outraged by this (or as outraged as she could display, in her position) and said the action by the plumber bordered on contempt, given the matter was already before the Tribunal and the plumber had already been served papers. The Tribunal found in my favour of my complaint.
I would urge to contact Baycorp to advise them the amount is in dispute and before the Courts and ask them to desists in any collection action and to have any adverse information from your Veda credit file.
If HNZ wish to pursue you. then there is a process they must follow. They can not be allowed to treat people in this way. I can only imagine the stress this is putting you under. Good luck.