FAULTY STATEMENT OF CLAIM

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 21, 20 October 1942, Page 3

FAULTY STATEMENT OF CLAIM

Arbitration Court Case When a case brought by ‘the inspector of awards against the Wellington City Council alleging a breach of the city council labourers’ award was called for hearing in the Arbitration Court in Wellington yesterday the city solicitor, Mr. O’Shea, entered a plea that the Court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, submitting two grounds for the plea. Mr. O’Shea said that the statement of claim should have been signed by plaintiff or his solicitor, and this had not been don,o’. He quoted authorities for his claim that this was a neecssary pre-re-quisite for the hearing. In the second place, Mr. O’Shea pointed out. the case had been entered against the Wellington City Council, a body winch had no-legal entity. The citation should have been made against the mayor, council and citizens of the city of Wellington. The inspector of awards, Mr. Berryman, said that the award under which the statement of claim was made, referred to the Wellington City Council and the claim had been made in that form. In announcing the decision of the Court, Mr. O’Shea’s plea that the Court had no jurisdiction was well founded, Mr, Justice Tyndall pointed out that in a later passage of the award the mayor, council, and citizens were cited. “I think a number Of these statements should be drawn up with more care,” his Honour added. “There was a case in Auckland, recently in which the statement of claim was unsigned and had the same submission been made the Court would have had to give the same decision.