Misleading Website Headlines
In August this year the Court of Appeal gave some important guidance on the use of advertising headlines with qualifiers. "Headlines" with "qualifiers" is where an advertisement makes a grand claim about a product or service (the "headline") and then qualifies that claim by adding conditions, exceptions etc. (the "qualifiers") often by referring the potential customer to other material or another part of the website.
The decision was Godfrey Hirst NZ Limited v Cavalier Bremworth Limited and the Court of Appeal looked at whether certain headlines amounted to "misleading and deceptive conduct" or "false or misleading representations" in breach of sections 9 or 13 of the Fair Trading Act when one took into account the qualifiers.
Parent Company Made To Pay Its Subsidiary's Debt
Many owners choose to operate their business interests through separate subsidiary or sister companies. This has long been considered appropriate use of the limited liability company to reduce risk. However, the recent decision of Lewis Holdings Limited v Steel & Tube Holdings Limited [2014] NZHC 3311 has reminded us all of a limitation to this limited liability rule contained in section 271(1)(a) of the Companies Act 1993 which can provide a nasty surprise if the subsidiary or sister company has not been managed properly.
After a series of acquisitions and restructurings Steel & Tube ended up holding all the shares in Stube Industries. Stube Industries was no longer trading and its sole asset was a lease of a piece of bare land owned by Lewis Holdings.
Renewing Alcohol Licenses
There is unfortunately no quick solution for a failure to apply for an on-licence renewal before its expiry. As Rydges Auckland recently found out, once a licence expires the only remedy is to go through the process of applying for a new licence.
A failure to file a renewal application before expiration of the licence left Rydges Auckland unable to sell alcohol for a number of weeks. Despite being sent notification from Auckland Council six weeks before its licence was due to expire, the large, centrally located hotel did not apply for licence renewal and had to bear the costs and inconvenience of its omission.
Trading Trusts: Are They For You?
Published in Inside Tourism, Issue 1002, 4 November 2014
We are often asked to explain the concept of a "trading trust" and its advantages and disadvantages for operating a business.
Essentially, a trading trust is a business operated by a company in its capacity as a trustee. The trustee company is operating the business for the benefit of the discretionary beneficiaries of the trust.
Auckland Draft Local Alcohol Policy
Published in Inside Tourism, Issue 984, 3 July 2014
Under the Sale and Supply of Liquor Act 2012 territorial authorities can develop Local Alcohol Policies (LAPs). An operative LAP is a matter to which licensing bodies must have regard when considering applications for liquor licences. The submission period for the Auckland draft LAP will close at 4:00pm on 16 July 2014.
New regulations to support the new Health and Safety at Work Act
Published in Inside Tourism, Issue 980, 3 June 2014
THE MBIE recently issued a lengthy discussion document detailing proposals for new health and safety regulations due to take effect from April 2015.
The discussion paper - Developing regulations to support the new Health and Safety at Work Act - is part of the government's Working Safer package of reforms.
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