Fairfax set to fight suppression order

Lawyers for Fairfax Media are due to front up at the High Court in Auckland today to fight a press ban on publishing details of a $19 million dispute between businessman Bill Birnie and two former associates.

Justice Raynor Asher issued an interim order yesterday at the behest of Mr Birnie's lawyer, Michael Reed, QC, suppressing all detail canvassed in court during the opening of the investors' case against Mr Birnie. Also suppressed were Mr Reed's initial arguments in favour of a press ban.

But the judge wants to hear fuller argument from Mr Reed today, setting out why he wants a permanent suppression order preventing the public from knowing details of the claim against Birnie Capital Property Partnership (BCPP).

Mr Reed has also indicated he wants certain information, likely to be raised in substantive hearing against Birnie Capital, to be permanently suppressed in Judge Asher's final judgment.

Judge Asher has yet to rule on this. But yesterday he refused Mr Reed's application for the case to be heard in chambers, saying the balancing of the principles of open justice with the privacy concerns of litigants "cannot be dealt with lightly".

Judge Asher has invited the news media to argue its case today against a permanent suppression order being granted on the details of the case. Fairfax has instructed Bruce Gray, QC, and other media are expected to join the fray.

The judge made it clear his interim suppression order did not cover details about the case that are already in the public domain. In particular, a story published in The Independent on January 28, 2010, and information contained in an affidavit submitted to the court by Allen Peters, one of the investors suing Mr Birnie, were not covered by the ban, the judge said.

Earlier this year The Independent got permission to search court files relating to the case.

As laid out in The Independent's story on January 28, the case hinges on a dispute between BCPP and its directors Bill Birnie and Steve Norrie, and a group of property investors who ploughed $17.25m into the partnership to finance three separate deals. In addition, Mr Birnie borrowed $6.5m from the BNZ.

One of the transactions involved a $19m put option over a BCPP-owned entity called Lion Rock Developments. This meant the investors, including Mr Peters and businessmen Bernard Quinn and South Canterbury Finance founder Allan Hubbard and his wife Margaret, could require BCPP to stump up the $19m if one of two other BCPP deals fell through.

This happened and the investors have sought to exercise the put option against Birnie Capital.

- © Fairfax NZ News