Zoo death, dog attacks prove costly
Almost half of the legal cases which cost Hamilton City Council
$127,000 over the past five years involved court cases about dogs.
That figure doesn’t include civil action, such as the $500,000 council spent fighting a district plan appeal by the family trust of Mayor Andrew King.
Legal spend figures released under the Official Information Act cover 15 criminal or regulatory cases, including WorkSafe’s prosecution of council over zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh’s death.
There are also 12 cases involving dogs, one over water taken from a hydrant, and one instance of Waikato Regional Council fining the city council.
However, most of Hamilton City Council’s legal spending is on out-of-court advice – the legal budget this financial year is
$620,000.
Council’s longest and most expensive court case in the past five years was the WorkSafe prosecution over Kudeweh’s death, according to the OIA information.
Kudeweh, 43, died in September
2015 after an attack by Sumatran tiger Oz at Hamilton Zoo.
Hamilton City Council was charged by WorkSafe NZ. Council pleaded guilty to negligence and was sentenced about a year after the attack.
Legal fees for the case added up to $53,733.50 and council was ordered to pay $10,363.60 to Kudeweh’s two children – those costs were covered by council’s insurance.
Judge Denise Clarke also handed down a $38,250 fine to the city council.
After the court process, councillors agreed to pay an additional
$80,000 to the Kudeweh children after their second debate on the matter.
Samantha Kudeweh’s husband, Richard, said he had to get his own legal support for dealings with council.
‘‘What did I do? I was just an employee of the council, doing my job, and my wife got killed – and she just happened to be working for the same employer.’’
He was treated more like a number than a person, he said. ‘‘My life has changed significantly, and not for the better. The kids have lost their mum. I have got to deal with that every day.’’
The only other case against Hamilton City Council was a 2014 prosecution by Waikato Regional Council.
This was to do with discharging wastewater and was the quickest and cheapest to resolve – the city council paid a $750 fine.
Dealing with dogs was by far the most common reason for council’s court spending: a dozen cases added up to about $69,000 in legal fees.
Two of those were prosecutions of owners after their dogs were involved in attacks – actions worth about $10,300 and $27,700.
‘‘We always get some cost recovery from the courts . . . but the reality is the cost recovery barely scratches the surface,’’ animal education and control manager Susan Stanford said.
‘‘When we’re prosecuting, it’s something that’s serious.’’
Hamilton City Council prosecutes owners less than other councils, Stanford said, and encourages owners of a dangerous dog to hand it over to be put down.
But council will end up in court if someone challenges an infringement notice issued by animal control. That has been the case with 12 of the 1354 infringement notices issued since 2012/2013.
Often council spends on external legal advice to avoid potential costs later on, corporate general manager David Bryant said.
The decision was made not to employ in-house lawyers as some other councils do, but to consult external experts when needed.