We mentioned today that, extraordinarily, a lawyers' letter was sent by law firm Chapman Tripp on behalf of its client, Foodstuffs North Island, to Auckland University saying one of its (retired) employees, Emeritus Professor Tim Hazledine, had written an article defaming Foodstuffs. Chapman Tripp requested the article be removed from the University's website. It was called, "Foodstuffs Wants to Merge its Co-ops, but Consumers Need the Opposite". Business Desk reported, "Foodstuffs North Island has made legal moves to silence an academic critical of its proposed merger".
So first, here is the legal letter for your perusal:
https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/362032/Tim-Hazeldine-submission-in-response-to-FSNI-and-FSSI-statement-of-unresolved-issues-12-August-2024.pdf
It says Hazledine's article alleges, "Foodstuffs is currently engaged in illegal, criminal and anti-competitive practices and has entered into an anti-competitive agreement; and there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the owners or operators of Foodstuffs know that they are acting illegally and anti-competitively .. There are no defences to these imputations. The imputations are false. Even if some were clearly stated as opinions and were genuinely held by Professor Hazledine, they are not based on true facts and are not protected .. Provided these defamatory statements are removed by 5pm on 25 June 2024, this will resolve matters as far as Foodstuffs Is concerned".
I thought it wise to get the inside story straight from the horses mouth, so I asked Hazledine today what had gone on. He said that he'd been passed the above (now publicly available) lawyers' letter & considered the claim of defamation to be ridiculous - an attempt to "chill discussion" of the Foodstuff merger. It partially worked. He says University management pulled his piece off its website. So much for our government, including PM and Opposition Leader, arguing University staff like Hazledine have statutory protection coming from being a "critic & conscience" of society. He adds Stuff News also published his Opinion Piece & got threatened by the same lawyers. What's utterly bizarre is that Hazledine's article is fully available on the official NZ Commerce Commission government website above (and The Post's website). It formed part of his August 12 submission to the Commerce Commission. All I can say is that it now appears the PM, Leaders of NZ First and ACT, Head of Commerce Commission, Commerce Minister, Finance Minister & Minister of Justice may all presently be breaking the law by posting defamatory material on official NZ government websites. Shame on them.
It says Hazledine's article alleges, "Foodstuffs is currently engaged in illegal, criminal and anti-competitive practices and has entered into an anti-competitive agreement; and there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the owners or operators of Foodstuffs know that they are acting illegally and anti-competitively .. There are no defences to these imputations. The imputations are false. Even if some were clearly stated as opinions and were genuinely held by Professor Hazledine, they are not based on true facts and are not protected .. Provided these defamatory statements are removed by 5pm on 25 June 2024, this will resolve matters as far as Foodstuffs Is concerned".
I thought it wise to get the inside story straight from the horses mouth, so I asked Hazledine today what had gone on. He said that he'd been passed the above (now publicly available) lawyers' letter & considered the claim of defamation to be ridiculous - an attempt to "chill discussion" of the Foodstuff merger. It partially worked. He says University management pulled his piece off its website. So much for our government, including PM and Opposition Leader, arguing University staff like Hazledine have statutory protection coming from being a "critic & conscience" of society. He adds Stuff News also published his Opinion Piece & got threatened by the same lawyers. What's utterly bizarre is that Hazledine's article is fully available on the official NZ Commerce Commission government website above (and The Post's website). It formed part of his August 12 submission to the Commerce Commission. All I can say is that it now appears the PM, Leaders of NZ First and ACT, Head of Commerce Commission, Commerce Minister, Finance Minister & Minister of Justice may all presently be breaking the law by posting defamatory material on official NZ government websites. Shame on them.
5 comments:
Too frightened to comment in case Chapman Tripp find out who I am and send a letter. I can't afford defence lawyers fees at $1000 an hour (if I can get the discount (?) rate) for experts. Oops have I said too much?
Perhaps Chapman Tripp had the silly idea that the general public where starting to believe lawyers aren't the most reviled group in our society. Therefore they are doing their best to reassure us they are.
Let's face it, lawyers will claim anything for a buck. After all, the proof is in the pudding. In most cases that end up in court, half of them are proved wrong. But often it doesn't end there, they can go on challenging and milking it often with complete reversals on further appeal. A wonderful money making system similar to that graphically portrayed (as an incidental) by Dr Suess in 'The Sneetches'.
But as Shakespeare's character once said, 'the truth will out.'
And all thanks and strength to Prof Hazledine.
"One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them" - Thomas Sowell.
Dear Prof. MacCulloch, in a past " post on this website" on the same subject, written by you, I posted a comment then, which I will repeat -
" That you need to accomplish a deep dive into who really owns Foodstuffs " and openly publish that data on this website or through any open/ honest MSM within New Zealand.
The current Management, of Foodstuffs, are only " the front" and my contention is - "they are acting upon the wishes of those on the dark side". The question is why?
Am I allowed to "promote" that the lack lustre of the Commerce Commission, on the subject of supermarkets, reminds me of their "lack lustre" look at the BNZ and the involvement of Lawyers Russell McVeigh - think wine Box - Winston Peters & Robert Muldoon.
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