Disgraced lawyer back in court
A disgraced lawyer who had to ditch his practice after hiring underage prostitutes is battling to stay on his property, as a bankrupted former client stakes a claim over it.
The lawyer has also been denied an injunction to stop the process going ahead, despite being part way through serving home detention at the property.
O¯ taki lawyer Quentin Stobart Haines is three months into a sixmonth home detention sentence for hiring two teenage girls for commercial sexual activities.
He was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court in September for the offending, which took place in Wellington in August 2017, when he hired the two girls, aged
14 and 17 at the time.
He is serving the sentence at a property in Manakau, just south of Levin, which has become the centre of the contentious legal case.
According to a recent judgment made in the High Court at Wellington by Justice Christine Grice, Haines and a trust own the property, he says as trustees of a family trust.
It has two mortgages registered against it to two finance companies, both registered in May 2017, the same day Haines and the trust took ownership. Haines borrowed money from finance companies, some of which were guaranteed by a former client of his, Harry Memelink. Memelink used some of the loan money to buy a boat called Katherine Johnston. Haines said he lent Memelink more than $93,000 to pay body corporate levies and make mortgage repayments.
Haines undertook substantial amounts of work for Memelink, for which he said he was owed $1.15 million in legal fees. Memelink denies he owes the money and has complained to the New Zealand Law Society about Haines’ conduct. That complaint is not yet resolved.
Memelink has been made bankrupt, but is trying to have that annulled. Haines has also made claims against Memelink’s bankrupt estate.
The basis for Haines’ attempted injunction is Memelink ‘‘apparently’’ taking assignment of one of the mortgages, Grice said.
Haines did not provide any details of the assignment, because he said the finance company would not respond to him. The injunction application was made without notice, so Memelink had no part in the process.
Haines alleged Memelink had contacted his probation office, saying he was taking possession of the Manakau property and was going to kick Haines out.
In a letter to the Official Assignee, who is administering Memelink’s bankruptcy, Haines said he felt ‘‘very vulnerable by the constant threats and harassment’’, Grice said.
The judge declined Haines’ application, saying it did not need to be decided so fast.
Memelink had limited ability to do anything with the property due to his bankrupt status.
Further, Haines understood Memelink was not going to do anything with the property without the Official Assignee’s permission, the judge said.
The application will proceed sometime this year, but with Memelink being notified and able to take part in the process.