Property fight over

A man’s lengthy battle to stay on land administered by the Ma¯ ori Trustee has ended, with the High Court bankrupting him over tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and damages.

Fredrick Piripi Kingi Hill was made bankrupt by Associate Judge Kenneth Johnston in the High Court at Palmerston North this week, bringing to a close litigation between the two parties stretching back to early 2015.

The trustee administered a block of Mangatainoka land on behalf of 96 owners and leased it to Hill in 2007. But problems soon flared up, with Hill not paying rent or rates from 2009 and failing to control gorse.

The lease was cancelled in 2015 by the district court, which ordered Hill to get off the land and pay $87,400 for rent and damages. He took six different court actions to get back on the land and stave off paying, including filing a counterclaim for $10 million.

That claim alleged the trustee took items of his from the property and put the cost of representing himself in court at $4.5m.

Despite the Supreme Court refusing to hear his appeal last month, he still tried to file proceedings against the trustee seeking damages – an application the High Court refused to accept.

In fighting the bankruptcy order, Hill said the judgments against him were wrong in fact and law. The trustee did not have real control of the land, used a lease agreement deceitfully and previous decisions were wrong, he said. He wanted the proceeding put off indefinitely, other decisions rescinded, or a rehearing of his counterclaim.

Johnston declined all of those actions. There were ways to stave off bankruptcy orders, one of which was establishing a counterclaim, the judge said. But it only applied to decisions made in the High Court and Hill took his case to the Court of Appeal.

Despite the Supreme Court refusing to hear his appeal . . . he still tried to file proceedings.

The big problem, though, was Hill’s arguments. He had used them throughout his various court hearings, coming up short each time. ‘‘All of the issues identified by Mr Hill . . . have been the subject of careful scrutiny in both the district court and this court,’’ the judge said.

On the other hand, the trustee’s application to bankrupt Hill gave ‘‘no room for objection’’.

Hill said bankruptcy would cause problems in his life, including embarrassment – something Johnston did not doubt. ‘‘But that is no argument against the order that the Ma¯ ori Trustee seeks.’’