My experience

 

I have appeared in numerous Court and Tribunal hearings, including as senior or sole counsel in the Court of Appeal, High Court, Employment Court, District and Family Courts and the Employment Relations Authority.   I have also appeared as junior counsel in a number of complex civil trials in the High Court.   Much of my experience in this regard has been acting as junior counsel to Peter Whiteside KC.  I have also assisted clients in mediations, both private and Court-facilitated, on many occasions in a wide range of cases.  

 

While I was a lecturer at the University, I gave presentations on insurance issues at a number of conferences and industry events, both in New Zealand and Australia.   I was also asked on many occasions to be a peer-reviewer for academic journal articles on insurance law topics.   

  

Examples of recent work

• Acting for a life insurance policy-holder who was declined payment by his insurer following a terminal illness claim for a serious cancer

• Acting for a commercial radio employee who was made redundant on the grounds of a Covid-19 related business restructure     

• Acting for a New Zealand-based international e-commerce business involved in contract disputes with suppliers in Hong Kong and the UK 

• Appearing in a 2 day trial in the Employment Court on behalf of a client seeking approximately $200,000 in wage arrears and unpaid holiday entitlements from a former employer

• Appearing in a 3 day hearing in the Employment Relations Authority for a client facing allegations of disclosure of confidential information and claims for enforcement of restraint of trade clauses by a former employer

• Acting for a student at the University of Canterbury who was denied admission to a limited entry course for reasons that the student considered unreasonable

• Advising on a dispute about a life insurance policy involving allegations that the insured had breached his duty of disclosure and/or made material misstatements 

• Acting for a Chinese-owned New Zealand company involved in disputes over multi-million dollar land transactions 

• Advising on limitation periods for applications to re-open a credit contract under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

• Advising on the interpretation of guarantee documents

• Drafting submissions for a Court of Appeal hearing about the effect of disputed guarantee documents

• Drafting proceedings against an insurer which had declined to cover its insured for damage to goods in transit

• Representing a bar/restaurant in a personal grievance claim in the Employment Relations Authority 

• Research and opinion work for a Queen's Counsel on the nature and extent of an insurer's obligation to repair an earthquake damaged house

• Appearing in the District Court to apply for the modification of a registered covenant over land under the Property Law Act 2007 

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Cases

• Simpson & ors v Jenks [2013] NZHC 3533

• Thomson v Thomson [2013] NZHC 2222 

• Re Forresters Nominee Company Ltd [2012] NZHC 1216.

• Comfortplus Ltd (in liq) v Portsmouth Investments Ltd (in liq) [2012] NZHC 886

• Dominion Finance Group Ltd (in rec and liq) v Body Corporate 382902 [2012] NZHC 3325

• Moffat v Barrett, High Court (Auck) CIV-2010-404-7116, 12 September 2011, Bell AJ

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Presentations and publications

• Holderness HDJ (2018) Reform of EQC. New Zealand Insurance Law Association Conference, Christchurch, September 2018 (conference presentation)

• Holderness HDJ (2018) In the case of earthquake, how does an insurer value a first party loss? Australian Insurance Law Association (NSW Branch) Masterclass, Sydney, August 2018 (conference presentation) 

• Holderness HDJ (2017) Case Law Update. Christchurch: New Zealand Insurance Law Association branch event, 31 Oct 2017 (conference presentation)

• Holderness HDJ (2017) 2018 AIDA World Congress Questionnaire: Disclosure Duties in Insurance: Answers for New Zealand. In AIDA - Rio Congress 2018: Disclosure Duties in Insurance (Answers for New Zealand), Commissioned by New Zealand Insurance Law Association. 1-5.

• Holderness HDJ (2017) Canterbury Fried Chicken: New Zealand Fire Service Commission v Legg and AMI v Legg. Wellington: New Zealand Insurance Law Association Conference 2017, 13-15 Sep 2017 (conference presentation) 

• Holderness HDJ (2017) Kraal v EQC. Wellington: QuakeCore and VUW Disaster Insurance Workshop, 22-22 Sep 2017 (workshop presentation)

• Holderness HDJ (2017) Replacement cost cover in residential property insurance and the Canterbury earthquakes 2010-11. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly 23(June 2017): 3-24 (peer-reviewed journal article)

• Holderness HDJ (2017) United Kingdom Supreme Court affirms SAAMCO. New Zealand Law Journal (2017): 324-326, 337 (journal article)

• Holderness HDJ (2017) Wayne Tank on the wane? Multiple causes and exclusions in New Zealand insurance law: New Zealand Fire Service Commission v Legg. Insurance Law Journal 28(2): 161-175 (peer-reviewed journal article)

• Holderness HDJ (2016) Replacement cost cover in residential property insurance and the Canterbury earthquakes: Australian Insurance Law Association (Queensland Branch) Masterclass, Brisbane, April 2016 (conference presentation)

• Holderness H, Marten B, Jones S (2016) Reform of Insurance Law in New Zealand - a preliminary issues paper. By invitation of the New Zealand Law Commission 1-18 (research paper)

• Collins T, Finn J, Holderness H, Hopkins W and Toomey E (2016) The Canterbury earthquakes 2010-11 - selected legal issues. Australian Environment Review 31(9) 3: 324-328 (peer-reviewed journal article) 

•  Finn, J, Holderness, H and Toomey, E (2015) Paying Out After a Natural Disaster: The Earthquake Commission, Private Insurance and Red-Zone Payouts after the Canterbury (New Zealand) Earthquakes. Gold Coast, Australia: Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, 3-5 May 2015. In Proceedings: pp 80-99.  (Peer reviewed)

• Holderness, HDJ (2015) Recent New Zealand earthquake cases. Insurance Law Journal 26(3): 246-270. (Peer-reviewed journal article)

• Holderness, HDJ (2015) Section 9 of the Law Reform Act 1936: A Call for Modernisation. New Zealand Universities Law Review 26(4): 759-790. (Peer-reviewed journal article)

• Holderness, HDJ (2014) BFSL 2007 Ltd v Steigrad and s 9 of the Law Reform Act 1936 (NZ): Interpretive complexities and the misunderstood significance of the insured's insolvency. Insurance Law Journal 25(3): 227-262. (Peer-reviewed journal article).

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