A senior Chapman Tripp litigator sees fewer disputes being resolved on a lawyer-to-lawyer basis and heading directly to an overcrowded court system.
Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of about 80 litigation says that courts are currently so backlogged that it’s taking more than two years to bring cases to trial, which is the longest delay in recent memory.
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While Graham acknowledges that the level of litigation in New Zealand does not reach the extremes seen in the United States, he observes that disagreements that might have been resolved through lawyer-to-lawyer negotiations in the past are now proceeding directly to the justice system.
Although precise statistics are difficult to obtain, Graham sees an uptick in litigation, often prompted by or directed towards banks as a result of their involvement ranging from class actions over fees to debt collection efforts, spanning approximately 40 to 90 cases annually.
He believes that one of the reasons behind the rise in litigation is the challenging economic climate.
“People are probably a bit more desperate and turn to litigation as a last resort, and probably a bit more readily than perhaps we’re used to in New Zealand,” he told RNZ.
The combination of both economic hardship and impatience in the aftermath of COVID-19 have led people to view litigation as a more viable option than before, with less apprehension about pursuing legal action compared to the past.
The emergence of litigation funders in New Zealand may have also contributed to the increasingly litigious trend in the same manner as has occurred with litigation financing in the United States and elsewhere.
