Neha Patil (Editor)

Bank of New Zealand v Greenwood

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Citation(s)
  
[1984] 1 NZLR 525

Location
  
New Zealand

Transcript(s)
  
High Court judgment

Judge sitting
  
Michael Hardie Boys

Bank of New Zealand v Greenwood

Full case name
  

Similar
  
Shivas v Bank of New Zealand, Donnelly v Westpac Banking Corp, Dale v Trustbank Waikato Ltd

Bank of New Zealand v Greenwood [1984] 1 NZLR 525 is a cited case in New Zealand regarding land based nuisance claims in tort.

Contents

Background

Reflection of sunlight from Greenwood's architecturally designed glass veranda caused discomfort to people working in the Bank of New Zealand building opposite it. Greenwood refused to take steps to rectify this, as they claimed that sunlight was not an actionable claim in nuisance.

Held

The court ruled that the reflection of sunlight is an actionable claim in nuisance, but instead of making Greenwood remove the offending veranda which would have cost $20,000, it ordered that Greenwood pay for the installation of blinds at the BNZ building.

References

Bank of New Zealand v Greenwood Wikipedia