\u201cPrior to the conference, counsel for the defendants filed a joint memorandum signalling both defendants [TVNZ and Hattotuwa] seek indemnity costs,\u201d said Clark in a minute released on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe costs sought are against Mr Batchelor and also Mr Grenon as a non-party.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge noted a lawyer was appearing for Grenon on the conference call.<\/p>\n
NZME director and shareholder Jim Grenon. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
While lawyers for the defendants suggested the application for costs could proceed by way of memoranda, the judge ruled against that process.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough there is merit with this suggestion, given Mr Grenon\u2019s now involvement and that there is a possibility evidence may be given, I decline to proceed down this pathway. <\/p>\n
\u201cA more formal process should occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
On that basis, the judge said that if costs were sought against Grenon, TVNZ and Hattotuwa should file an application by May 1 seeking non-party costs against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough an application for costs is strictly unnecessary against Mr Batchelor, the application should also set out the claim against Mr Batchelor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge said Batchelor and Grenon would have until May 15 to file \u201cany notices of opposition and any affidavit evidence they wish to rely on\u201d.<\/p>\n
Submissions would then be received from lawyers at different deadlines over the following 11 days, with a tentative hearing date set down for May 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cI acknowledge costs are generally dealt with on the papers,\u201d said the judge in his minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf counsel are in agreement, costs can be dealt with in this manner, then the hearing will be vacated. If there is any disagreement on this issue, the hearing will proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A TVNZ spokeswoman said: \u201cTVNZ won this litigation and so we\u2019re entitled to our costs. Julian Batchelor hasn\u2019t agreed to pay our costs yet, and so we\u2019re making a formal application to the court for our costs to be met. As you have seen, Jim Grenon asked to be heard, so now he is involved in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grenon has also been approached for comment.<\/p>\n
The case<\/p>\n
Judge Clark ruled last month that Batchelor\u2019s defamation case was \u201cwholly unsuccessful\u201d.<\/p>\n
Anti-co-governance campaigner Julian Batchelor unsuccessfully sued TVNZ over an online article in 2023.<\/p>\n
Batchelor \u2013 the Stop Co-Governance campaigner who was adamant he had been wronged by TVNZ in an August 2023 news report that essentially labelled him as racist \u2013 revealed during the hearing that his case was being funded by Grenon.<\/p>\n
Grenon is now a director and the largest shareholder of NZME, with a stake of more than 19.90%.<\/p>\n
Last year, he led a successful campaign to overhaul the board of the media firm, unhappy with its performance on a number of fronts, including its editorial endeavour.<\/p>\n
According to Batchelor, Grenon called him in 2023, after seeing the TVNZ story, which was focused on a Stop Co-Governance pamphlet. Batchelor told the court in December that Grenon said to him: \u201cI\u2019ve been following you, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re a racist. I think we should sue TVNZ.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Judge Clark found comments in the TVNZ story were defamatory, the state broadcaster and Hattotuwa successfully defended their position on several points of defamation law, including honest opinion and responsible communication in the public interest. Hattotuwa also successfully employed the truth defence.<\/p>\n
Jim Grenon\u2019s involvement and the issue of costs<\/p>\n
During the trial, defence lawyer Davey Salmon KC painted Jim Grenon as a puppeteer. \u201cSomething seriously rotten sat behind this claim,\u201d Salmon told the court. \u201cIf this is not a case for indemnity costs, then respectfully, what is? Billionaires should not be allowed to play with litigation behind a cloak of invisibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described the case as \u201ca Trojan Horse for someone else to have a tilt at the state broadcaster and an academic\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his decision, Judge Clark grouped various issues under one subheading: \u201cLack of Discovery; Inadmissibility of Evidence; Who was Paying Mr Batchelor\u2019s Legal Costs? Assignment of the Claim? Abuse of Process?\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted: \u201cWhat occupied some focus during the hearing were issues of [a lack of] discovery by Mr Batchelor; admissibility objections of some evidence; the refusal by Mr Batchelor to answer a question about who funded [the Stop Co-Governance] pamphlet and the discovery Mr Batchelor was not paying his legal costs but instead, they were being paid by a Mr Grenon.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo a greater or lesser extent, each issue led to the point that in closing, the defendants were highly critical of Mr Batchelor\u2019s conduct, which they say has led to an abuse of the court\u2019s processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawyers acting for Sanjana Hattotuwa and TVNZ – Davey Salmon KC (left) and Daniel Nilsson (right). Photo \/ Dean Purcell, file<\/p>\n
However, said the judge, the distractions \u201chad little or no impact on my assessment of the merits of Mr Batchelor\u2019s claim\u201d.<\/p>\n
Issues over the lack of discovery, for example, had not \u201chindered my assessment of the evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, in saying that, I reserve the right for the defendants to refer to this issue again when costs are considered\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said that right extended to the issue of Grenon\u2019s involvement in the proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis involvement comes in two forms,\u201d Judge Clark said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first is the question of who is the real plaintiff in this proceeding? The second goes to the question of costs. If Mr Grenon is paying the legal costs of Mr Batchelor, then what exposure does Mr Grenon have to an adverse costs award against Mr Batchelor?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clearly, said the judge, Grenon\u2019s \u201cpresence was unknown until Mr Batchelor was required by the court to answer the question of who was funding his legal costs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut rather than this having any influence on my determinations of the merits of the claim, it is an issue which will go to costs, particularly when, as I commented during the hearing, Mr Grenon has not had an opportunity to address the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge noted the issue of costs would not be straightforward. The next step was a telephone conference \u2013 this was the call that was held on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the conference, timetabling for cost submissions will be discussed as well as whether Mr Grenon wishes to be heard and, if so, how.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the case, the judge signalled it was important to note Grenon had not been heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an interpretation which can go from one end of the spectrum, which is that these proceedings, in terms of the claim, were controlled and conducted by a third-party funder, which falls outside the auspices of this court.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s just a hard no \u2013 that should never happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough to there\u2019s a person who just wants to help with the litigation because they generally feel that this is a person who has been grievously wronged by the defendants and can\u2019t afford the cost of a lawyer, and is prepared to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard someone say this person is funding it. We haven\u2019t heard from him saying, \u2018Well, hang on. It\u2019s not quite right\u2019 … or, \u2018Yes, it\u2019s absolutely right, but I still don\u2019t think I\u2019ve done anything wrong here\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPrior to the conference, counsel for the defendants filed a joint memorandum signalling both defendants [TVNZ and Hattotuwa]…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9092,194750,117616,194749,9516,6255,192457,1121,2741,802,23948,12513,5504,71,26265,2936,702,16081,24560,7810,1073,111,139,69,84888,107023,8983,213,13672,6445],"class_list":{"0":"post-372934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-against","9":"tag-anticogovernance","10":"tag-batchelor","11":"tag-batchelors","12":"tag-broadcaster","13":"tag-businessman","14":"tag-campaigner","15":"tag-case","16":"tag-claim","17":"tag-costs","18":"tag-defamation","19":"tag-failed","20":"tag-following","21":"tag-from","22":"tag-grenon","23":"tag-insider","24":"tag-it","25":"tag-jim","26":"tag-julian","27":"tag-may","28":"tag-media","29":"tag-new-zealand","30":"tag-newzealand","31":"tag-nz","32":"tag-pursue","33":"tag-signalled","34":"tag-signals","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-state","37":"tag-tvnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}