Levels of litigation rising with economic hardship

There's evidence New Zealanders are getting more trigger-happy when it comes to using courts to stamp down on competitionTough times, and raised post-Covid levels of impatience, could be the reason NZ is seeing a rise in a number of people suing for justice.One of the country's top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of about 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it's taking more than two years to get cases to trial - the longest it's been for a while.He says while we don't have American levels of suing over absolutely everything here, disputes that may in the past have been resolved lawyer-to-lawyer are heading straight to the justice system. Graham says while it's hard to get accurate statistics, the level of business in our High Courts across the country indicates there's been an uptick in litigation."If you just want a one-day argument in the High Court at the moment you're looking at next year. They just don't have any time," he says. Banks are probably the biggest targets, and instigators, of litigation; Graham says they are involved in about 40-90 cases a year, whether it's class actions over fees, or debt collection. Graham tells The Detail the reasons behind it are speculative, but he thinks one of them is the fact we're living in tough times. "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. "I think people are probably just a little bit more impatient and that's probably been driven through the aftermath of Covid. Economic downturn has led to people not exactly being trigger-happy but probably seeing litigation as an option more than they might otherwise. "And perhaps people just aren't as scared of litigation as they used to be. It's sort of become a bit more part of the New Zealand lifestyle than it ever has previously. It used to be a very big deal back in the day to take someone to court, and I think companies and people do it a little bit more readily." He says the emergence of litigation funders here now may have changed things as well. So what do you do when you get that dreaded legal letter? "Often you just have to work out how strongly you feel about it, how easy it is for you to change, what economically is the best path for you to fight, to fold, to do something in the middle," he says. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details