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NEWS 13th November 2020- Strike Out application by LVVTA and NZTA fails A company forced by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to stop building wheelchair-access vehicles is suing the government body and its offshoot the Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association (LVVTA) for losses “expected to exceed $5 million.”
Lawyers for vehicle manufacturer Drive NZ Classic Ltd (DNZC) have filed a statement of claim in the High Court against the LVVTA as first defendant and the NZTA as second defendant. The filing claims both the LVVTA and NZTA were negligent in their dealings with DNZC and had “no legal power” to force it to close its production facilities. It says the LVVTA made “public statements, including to customers and prospective customers (of the vehicle modifier), which were incorrect and negatively affected (its) reputation.” It also says LVVTA misled the NZTA. Roger Phillips DNZC was formerly known as U-Drive Mobility (UDM), a Waiuku-based company owned by automotive businessman Roger Phillips (above). It modified Skoda Yeti vehicles for wheelchair users to drive themselves. UDM built 10 vehicles from June 2011 to June 2013, certified by the LVVTA and its appointed agent and priced between $85,000 and $100,000. Nine were sold in New Zealand and one in Australia. The first car had an original steel floor and was sold in January 2012. The second car was one of nine with aluminium composite floors. It was sold later in 2012 to an Australian customer. Between October 2012 and June 2013, UDM modified the remaining eight Skoda Yeti vehicles. Meantime, it had applied to the LVVTA to move into volume production. “On an unknown date,” says the statement of claim, “LVVTA received a complaint or complaints from competitors of UDM regarding the UDM vehicles.” Yeti3 In December 2013, the NZTA notified the owners of the vehicles that certification had been revoked and they could no longer drive them on public roads. LVVTA and NZTA said it had issues with seatbelt anchorages, the aluminium composite floor, use of adhesives, the independent rear suspension, durability, workmanship, and insisted that UDM further modify the vehicles. UDM did so between December 2013 and July 2014. It hired independent engineers to test modifications and present findings to the LVVTA and NZTA. But the NZTA refused to certify the vehicles. The statement of claim filed by Hamilton law firm Braun Bond and Lomas says the refusal was “based on erroneous grounds, a misunderstanding of the evidence presented to it, and a failure to accept advice and test results from independent and qualified experts in the relevant fields.” The plaintiff DNZC claims an amount to be quantified before the hearing and interest on the sum from the date the relevant loses were suffered. A date for the hearing has yet to be set. “We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. – J Robert Oppenheimer. “Press freedom is one of the most important freedoms in a civilised society. It allows us to discover things about the world, including things the powers-that-be would prefer to keep hidden, and it allows us to give our own take on the world, too. It’s the freedom that lets us see what’s going on, and to say our piece about it. It’s the building block of democracy, and of liberty. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: ‘Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press.’ ” Extract from Editorial by BRENDAN O’NEILL Dear Friend If you believe what you read in the news, you probably think I’m a racist who caused another politician to require Police protection. I wrote the article below to explain why that couldn’t be further from the truth, raising questions about how such a story came to be. Unfortunately, the media outlets most […] The LVVTA is taking me back to the High Court yet again. This will be the fourth time in the High Court, and once in the Court of Appeal. COURT DATE IS NOW SET FOR 18TH MAY 2020, JUDGEMENT AFTER THAT COULD TAKE 6 TO 9 MONTHS- that is about a year from now. This […] We advise readers and contributors to this site that we are experiencing DENIAL OF SERVICE attacks, which overload the server so that the site cannot be reached. We have increased bandwidth twice, and are developing contingency plans if this continues. We have not yet identified the source of these attacks. Apologies to all- please email […] CA725/2017 Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association v John Bernard Brett and Anor This is to confirm that a fixture date has been allotted for the hearing of this appeal at 10.00 a.m. on Thursday 20th September 2018 One day has been allotted for the hearing. This will be at the Court of Appeal, Wellington. Three […] CIV-2015-404-001925 Mr AP Johnson and Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association vs John Brett Auckland High Court I self represented as a Lay Litigant The trial occurred on Monday and Tuesday this week. I claimed that I did not recognize the LVVTA as a legitimate party to the proceedings. My witness, Mr Robert Berger […] In an email received from NZTA is this content: “Good afternoon, In September we invited you to comment on a proposed change to the process for imported modified vehicles, which would allow these vehicles to be excluded from LVV certification in New Zealand if they’ve already met appropriate overseas standards. Please find attached a document […] In an email received from the LVReview@nzta.govt.nz is this content: In our last email update, we told you about a number of changes we were working on to improve the Low Volume Vehicle (LVV) system. Those changes have now been completed and further information about them follows. This update also contains information about work underway […] |
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