Gareth Vaughan: Turf war? With respect, it has all the hallmarks

Methinks the Court of Appeal's Justice Robert Chambers doth protest too much.

On page one of the Court of Appeal's judgment that the Tranz Rail insider trading case should be heard in Wellington rather than Auckland, Justice Chambers stressed the case was not a turf war as portrayed in the press.

Rather, this round in what he said "threatens to be a 15-rounder" is about whether the Securities Commission's case is eligible for the High Court's commercial list.

Where is this list located? Auckland.

And if the case isn't eligible for the commercial list where will it be heard? Wellington.

With the utmost respect to Justice Chambers, and taking into account Wellington High Court judge John Wild's earlier comment about the "obsolete nature" of the commercial list, it still looks like a turf war to me.

This is, after all, an unprecedented and high-profile case. It is the first time the commission has taken alleged insider traders to court.

As Justice Chambers points out, the case has already "received a degree of publicity in the popular and financial press".

This will only increase and TV cameras will join the melee for the "celebrity scalps" the David Richwhite camp claimed in its statement of defence that the watchdog is seeking.

The crux of what Justice Chambers dubbed a "preliminary skirmish" is Richwhite and his legal team want the case heard in Auckland and the Wellington-based commission wants the case heard in the capital, where it was filed last October.

Auckland would be cheaper and more convenient for Richwhite's side as Wellington would be for the shallower-pocketed, taxpayer-funded regulator.

But with no quarter given by either side, their lawyers' bills grow and those of us following the case yawn and await the serious stuff.

And anyway, does the location really matter?

Perhaps.

The Richwhite camp might be concerned Wellington judges are overly familiar with members of the bureaucracy they encounter on the capital cocktail circuit. The commission could be worried about long-standing relationships between members of the Auckland commercial scene.

But neither side would admit to this if they were.

The one thing that is certain is this case is a marathon rather than a sprint. A 15-round heavyweight bout rather than a three-round Olympic fight with the boxers in protective headgear.

Aside from Richwhite and his and business partner Sir Michael Fay's company, Midavia Rail Investments, there are the other defendants to consider.

The Boston-based Berkshire Fund III, its former managing director, Carl Ferenbach, and Australian-based former Tranz Rail finance chief Mark Bloomer are challenging the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts to hear the case.

Assuming that is overcome, the commission has the difficult and complex task of trying to prove insider trading took place.

In the meantime, perhaps a solution to the venue squabble could be finding a courtroom half-way between Auckland and Wellington.

Taupo, say.