Abstract:
Third-party litigation funding is permitted. Although the common law torts of maintenance (assisting a party in litigation without justification) and champerty (assisting in consideration of a share of proceeds of the litigation) have not technically been abolished in New Zealand, the recent attitude of the New Zealand courts to third party-funding can be described as ‘cautiously permissive’ and, perhaps, increasingly receptive. To describe this approach, a distinction needs to be drawn between representative proceedings under Rule 4.24 of the High Court Rules (which allows one or more persons to sue on behalf of, or for the benefit of, all persons with the same interest in the subject matter) and ordinary non-representative proceedings.
