Court case against ex-mayor dropped
A top Christchurch council manager has dropped a court case suing the city’s former mayor for $500,000 over water chlorination comments.
Council head of three waters and waste John Mackie claimed Garry Moore defamed him by suggesting he was pushing the interests of prochlorination group Water New Zealand. Moore denied either making the comments or that they amounted to defamation. Papers were filed with the Christchurch High Court earlier this year but The
Press has learned Mackie has since dropped his claim.
A court official said the case was no longer active and was withdrawn on December 10 before ever reaching court.
The Press understands that after a long meeting the pair came to an agreement, Mackie withdrew his allegations and that no further action will be taken. There was no out-of-court settlement and each party has paid their own legal costs.
Mackie declined to comment but Moore said the issue had been concluded to the ‘‘mutual satisfaction’’ of both parties, saying: ‘‘I’m delighted it’s over.’’
The claims centred around an article containing quotes attributed to Moore, which was published by
Newsroom, and similar allegations made by Moore during an interview with Newstalk ZB’s Chris Lynch.
Mackie claimed Moore’s comments implied he was ‘‘dishonest and unethical’’, both of which were ‘‘untrue and defamatory’’.
He sought $180,000 in damages for the Newsroom article and $330,000 for Moore’s Newstalk ZB interview.
In his statement of defence, released by the High Court in September, Moore denied his comments were defamatory but argued that if they were he was expressing his honest and genuine opinion.
He also said the subject matter of his comments was a matter of public concern responsibly communicated.
The stoush centred on the city council’s controversial decision in January to chlorinate Christchurch’s drinking water for up to 12 months while it repaired well heads, which had been deemed unsafe and vulnerable to pollution from dirty surface groundwater.
Mackie was elected to Water New Zealand’s board in September 2017 after a longstanding association with the organisation stretching back more than 30 years, according to its website.
He joined the Christchurch City Council in 2013 after an engineering career in Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin.
In February, he was nominated for New Zealander of the Year and for the Local Hero Award for service to the preservation of safe drinking water in New Zealand.
Moore was Christchurch mayor between 1998 and 2007. In June 2017 he was appointed chairman of the mayor’s external advisory group, set up to provide advice on the council’s long-term capital works programme.
Water New Zealand has been campaigning for permanent chlorination in Christchurch and across the country. It is a non-profit organisation, representing 1900 water treatment specialists, including water treatment companies.
Christchurch City Council terminated its membership of the group in October over concerns at its ‘‘agenda’’ to promote mandatory water treatment and enforce new regulation.