.
Widow sues to get body
By MARTIN VAN BEYNEN – Tuesday, 18 November 2008
A Christchurch widow who says her husband's body was stolen by his Maori relatives has begun a fresh bid to have the body returned.
Denise Clarke, the widow of James Takamore, 55, who died in Christchurch in August last year of an aneurysm, has applied for a court order forcing Takamore's mother, Neho, his brother, Donald, and his sister, Josephine, to disinter the body from its burial place in Kutarere close to Whakatane.
In one of the case's first salvos, in the High Court in Christchurch yesterday, the Takamore family sought to have the venue for the case, both for filing and trial, transferred to the High Court in Rotorua.
Her legal argument is that as executrix of Takamore's will, she had ownership of the body and the casket in which it was buried and is therefore entitled to their return to carry out her husband's wishes to be buried in Christchurch.
If the trial was held in Christchurch the large whanau of the defendants would find it difficult to attend, she said.
Counsel Moana Tuwhare told Associate Judge Jeremy Doogue the material act which should determine venue was the burial in the Bay of Plenty. The experts they intended to call were busy people and would find it difficult to find the time to travel.
All the defendants resided in the Bay of Plenty and were working full-time. His client did not say cultural factors were irrelevant but had considered these against the other competing interests. .
The judge reserved his decision on the venue.
Although the case was obviously important to Maori in the Bay of Plenty it was of interest to the whole country, he said.
.
Wind farm opponents face millions in costs
– Thursday, 18 September 2008
Wind farm opponents could face court costs running into millions of dollars for a failed attempt to overturn resource consents granted for two high-profile Otago power schemes.
The High Court in Dunedin has thrown out the Upland Landscape Protection Society's bid for a judicial review of the granting of consents for TrustPower's Mahinerangi wind farm and Meridian Energy's Project Hayes scheme.
The ORC and the Central Otago District Council did the same for Project Hayes.
The Clutha District Council and the Otago Regional Council (ORC) approved consents for Mahinerangi.
Proceedings for the judicial review started in April, before an Environment Court hearing appeals against both schemes began.
The councils responded to the society's bid with an application to strike out the review.
The Environment Court appeal over Project Hayes has been adjourned until early next year to allow the court to consider the cumulative effects of two wind farms in the region.
The appeal against TrustPower's wind farm was subsequently dismissed, although TrustPower has been directed to show precise locations of wind turbines.
In his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Fogarty said he was "left in no doubt that this application for judicial review cannot possibly succeed" and that it should now be struck out.
On behalf of the society, Ewan Carr had argued that photo simulations of both schemes had not accurately shown the true effects of the wind farms on the environment.
It was "inconceivable that the High Court would, at this late stage, intervene and set the whole process back several years, to start over again", the judge said.
He said he would have asked the society to put up about $130,000 as security for costs if he thought the proceedings should continue.
The judge ruled the five defendants the three councils, Meridian and TrustPower were entitled to costs, which could be filed jointly by September 30 or separately by October 17.
The court recognised it was in the public interest for power companies to increase generating capacity, especially with low hydro-lake storage levels this winter and in previous years. "It (the review request) always seemed like stretching an extremely long bow.
TrustPower spokesperson Graeme Purches said the total costs were likely to run to millions of dollars.
Carr said the society would speak to its lawyer today, but it was likely it would appeal against the decision. The outcome is hardly surprising," he said. Our initial view is that this decision effectively truncates the public participation process," he said.
"We think he (the judge) has approached this from the wrong basis.