Absurd High Court decision
Please watch the video and judge for yourselves -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11944268
A small hire car company is to have one of its vehicles seized after an alleged fraudster registered it in his name to secure a large loan.
Despite being innocent in the matter, Green Cars Ltd, which runs Green Rental and the Battery Clinic in Otahuhu, has to give up its 2011 Toyota Prius because the man they hired it to, Vincente Lopez, used it as collateral to get a $46,000 loan from Pioneer Finance - a loan he defaulted on.
Being the losing party in a
High Court hearing, Green Cars must also pay court costs.
The family business's manager, David Phan, was baffled by the decision.
"This guy's hired the vehicle, he's changed the registration to his name then waltzed down to the finance company and got finance on it.
"Now [Pioneer] has come after us trying to get the vehicle saying it's theirs."
"So if anyone gets wronged like us - even
fraudulently so - you still lose the vehicle."
In her decision, Justice Christine Gordon said that in registering the vehicle in his name, Lopez did indeed have rights to the Prius. The agreement he'd entered into with Pioneer Finance was enforceable against a third party, she found.
This is NZ Law? o_O:oops: