Accident Compensation Corporation v Stafford - [2018] 2 NZLR 861

Property law — Caveat — Removal of caveat — Crown Liabilities — Wakatū judgement allowed for a claim for ancestral Māori lands — Land was owned by Accident Compensation Corporation, a Crown entity — Caveat placed by historic beneficiaries on the land registering beneficial interest — Whether reasonably arguable that ancestral land owned by ACC could be obligated to settle Crown liabilities — Definition of “Crown” — Whether scope of the Crown's reach and control to Crown Entity satisfied definition of Crown — Whether insufficient connection between registered proprietor and claimed beneficial interest barred caveat — Accident Compensation Act 2001, s 259.

Property law — Caveat  — Caveat lodged to protect ancestral land from being sold — Whether caveats could be removed — Whether reasonably arguable that caveat sustainable — Whether reasonably arguable caveator had beneficial interest in the ACC property — Mandate requiring claimed interest to be derived from the registered proprietor — Public interest factors — Caveats can only be registered against whole title however only partial parcel had a beneficial interest claimable — Whether beneficial interest in a segment of a title can have a caveat lodged against it — Land Transfer Act 1952, ss 137 and 143.