£520,000 CLAIM

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 190, 8 May 1940, Page 8

£520,000 CLAIM

Hearing Of Case Lasted 37 Days LONGEST IN DOMINION (By Telegraph—Press Association.) GISBORNE,,May 7. Believed to have been the longest and most costly lawsuit heard in New Zealand, an action which has occupied the attention of Mr. Justice Callan in the Supreme Court since the beginning of March was concluded late this afternoon. The case was one in which F. T. Hall and others, beneficiaries in the estate of the late Fred Hall (Mr. W. D. Lysnar, with him Mr. M. H- Hampson) claimed £520,000 damages from the Guardian Trust and Executors Company, Limited, and Frank Wrey Nolan (Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., with him Mr. J. G. Nolan), the Bank of New Zealand, Limited (Mr. D. R. Hoggard, with him Mr. A. P. Blair), and the Union Bank of Australia, Limited (Mr. H. F. O’Leary, K.C., with him Mr. H. E. Evans). Plaintiffs alleged fraud and conspiracy and wrongful acts on the part of defendants in tbe administration of the estate of the late Fred Hall, which at one time had a book value of hundreds of thousands of pounds but later was said to be insolvent.

The hearing of the case occupied 37 sitting days and records of evidence and files of correspondence and documents were equivalent to 22 full-length novels. At. the conclusion of the final addresses the Judge reserved his decision.