Attorney-General v Geothermal Produce NZ Ltd - [1987] 2 NZLR 348

Tort — Negligence — Duty of care — Liability for spread of herbicide — Department of Lands and Survey employed independent contractor to spray broom and the drifting spray destroyed the commercial roses of a neighbour — Whether the Department was responsible for the negligence of the independent contractor — Whether the Department was itself negligent.

Damages — Assessment — Economic loss — Commercial roses being grown by a company were destroyed by drifting herbicidal spray, and the company's plans to expand its activities were frustrated through impecuniosity — Subsequently a new company was formed to grow orchids instead of roses — Whether the tortfeasor was liable for the loss of projected future profits — Whether a defence based on the company's impecuniosity, which prevented it from mitigating its loss, should succeed — Whether the old company and the new company should be regarded as a continuing business for the calculation of damages.