Dear Colleagues:

Some of you might be interested in two recent decisions.

The first, from the NZSC, deals with punitive damages. In Susan Couch v The Attorney-General [2010] NZSC 27 "The members of this Court (Elias CJ dissenting) have agreed, not following on this point an earlier decision of the Privy Council, that exemplary damages should not be available in cases of negligence unless the defendant consciously appreciated the risk the conduct in question posed to the safety of the plaintiff and proceeded deliberately and outrageously to run that risk causing harm to the plaintiff." (http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments-supreme/judgments-supreme-2010).

The second, from the English Court of Appeal, deals with undue influence and holds (I am told) that a failure to disclose an extra-marital affair creates a presumption of undue influence. See HEWETT v. FIRST PLUS FINANCIAL GROUP PLC [2010] EWCA Civ 312.

Happy Reading,

-- 
Jason Neyers
Associate Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
University of Western Ontario
N6A 3K7
(519) 661-2111 x. 88435