[Dave said they had a contract by which he supplied extra funds for their cruise totalling $31,211, Ellie would pay $15,057 and then she would pay the difference of $16,154 on their return.]
The High Court allowed him to proceed but on the condition he get a lawyer to plead and argue his claim.
At settlement discussions it was discovered Ellie had already paid $6,710, and, in an effort to settle, she paid another $1,367, which she reckoned discharged her obligation.
By now Dave had conceded the debt amounted to $1,495.50 - a claim Justice Christian Whata considered had no prospect of success.
Dave also tried to register a caveat over Ellie's property and accused her lawyer, and others, of conspiracy and alleged misrepresentations to the court, all of which Justice Whata rejected.
Footnote: Two High Court judges declared David Stanley Heenan - who brought a plethora of court cases over the years in a bid to overturn his bankruptcy - a vexatious litigant in 2009.
Proceedings he brought included extravagant and baseless allegations against a number of people, including judges.
In 2011, the High Court dismissed Mr Heenan's bid to sue the Queen, the Government, lawyers and 70- odd "scurrilous scoundrels" for $27 million.
Motorist's Court Victory Could Trigger $1m Refund
The High Court has backed Wellington legal researcher Alwyn O'Connor's landmark fight for justice in the Case of the Shonky Parking Ticket.
Rejecting a council appeal, Justice Denis Clifford upheld district court judge Chris Tuohy's earlier decision that a parking ticket issued by the Hutt City Council to Mr O'Connor on June 18, 2013 was not valid.
Both courts determined that a rule the council used did not empower it to impose time-restricted parking, therefore Mr O'Connor's ticket was not validly issued and it was cancelled.
The case involved a council official's skewed interpretation of provisions of the Land Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices 2004 (TCD Rule), which are too complicated to go into here.
Much hinged on what is a bylaw and what is a rule, the court saying there are "distinct offences of breaching a bylaw relating to parking and breaching a rule related to parking."
To comply, parking restrictions needed to be marked and Justice Clifford says no offence would be committed unless a parking restriction was properly brought to a person's attention.
The court says the Hutt City Council - which appeared to be the only local authority to get it wrong - will have to make a bylaw to validate time-restricted parking and that first involves a public consultation process with the community.
When he won in the district court in June, Mr O'Connor said he believed the Hutt council could have issued more than $1million worth of tickets improperly in the seven years since the time restriction was introduced and it should refund the money.
Defunct Truth Set To Bare All At Trial
"What's going on here, CaseLoad???" said Our Man At The Bar, fumbling in his fob for enough for a responsible shandy.
Yi Wu (also known as Dictus Easter Wu) is suing employment advocate May Moncur, ex-Truth reporter Stephen Cook, sometime Truth director Dermott Malley, his mate Robert James Kerridge and Truth Weekender (In Liquidation and now defunct) over alleged defamations published by Truth in print and online in April and May 2013.
The alleged defamations occurred during Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater's brief editorship, although Mr Slater is not sued, and only a couple of months before Truth ceased publication.
Mr Malley, a co-owner previously involved in a bold plan to revitalise Truth, sought summary judgment against Mr Wu in the High Court.
Mr Malley, a Whangarei kiwifruit grower, among other things, claimed he had no personal or active involvement with the publication complained of, his directorship of the company could not alone render him liable and, in any case, he reckoned Mr Wu's claim could not succeed and should be struck out.
Justice Joe Williams disagreed, indicating a good many questions of fact and credibility remained to be explored at trial, including the extent of Mr Malley's role at the time.
Dismissing Mr Malley's application, the judge did not consider Mr Wu's claim "so bereft of hope that his day in court should be denied him."
That was in March.
Then, just the other day, Justice Patricia Courtney also dismissed defendant Bob Kerridge's application for summary judgment and an order striking out the claim against him.
Footnote: Justice Courtney declined an oral application by Mr Wu's lawyer Frank Deliu to recuse herself from the hearing, putting Mr Deliu in his place.
When Mr Deliu interrupted with objections to submissions being made by Mr Kerridge's lawyer Paul Johns, the judge told Mr Deliu to sit down and wait his turn - even raising her voice to hammer home the point.
Justice Courtney said it was "most regrettable" for a Judge to feel the need to raise his or her voice to counsel "but occasionally it is necessary in order to keep control of the courtroom."
The defamation trial is set down for November in Auckland High Court.
Grisly Tales From Canterbury
CaseLoad was thrilled to see his barrister boozing buddy Anthony Neil Davis (Tony) Garrett having his prodigious chain yanked the other day by Colin "Crack a Funny" Eason, jovial president of the Canterbury/Westland branch of the New Zealand Law Society, for passing notes in court.
An ex-barman at the Christchurch Media Club, Mr Garrett has climbed to dizzying legal heights in Canterbury (CaseLoad treasures his private collection of snapshots of Mr Garrett's climbing - and other - escapades).
Golly, the tales that could be told of those halcyon days in erudite John Milligan's Chambers, overlooking the gentle Avon, when Tony, Dougie Taffs, Johnny Halls, , Tim Allan, Trish Costigan, Denis Pain, the late Nick Chapman and other carefree scamps would gather to play.
But that's for another day...
"Keep my name out of it," said The Scunner.
How A Reefton Boy Made Good
Legal folk elbowed their way in the other day to mark the retirement of Christchurch High Court judge Justice Graham Panckhurst QC with a traditional packed-house Canterbury knees up.
Known affectionately as Panky or Fangs, the former Crown solicitor who was made a judge in 1996 was lucky to do most of his judging in Christchurch, without having to uproot to another location.
A determined and workman-like criminal prosecutor, there are mixed reports on his judicial intellect.
Nevertheless, His Honour - who presided over the acquittal retrial of David Bain in 2009 - is considered to have done a sound job heading the 2010 Royal Commission into the Pike River Mine disaster.
CaseLoad was successfully prosecuted by Mr Panckhurst more than 30 years ago for declining to sign an accurately filled-out census return.
The unsuccessful defence was that a signature nullified any pretence of confidentiality.
Panky wasn't too pleased when Stats Dept blokes later said the return could have been accepted without a signature and CaseLoad need not have been convicted.
Nor was he amused when, stopping off at a Reefton pub for a sensible 7oz beer on the way back from prosecuting a particularly harrowing Greymouth murder trial, a bunch of rowdy detectives slagged off the sleepy township.
"What do you mean??? This is my hometown," he barked, silencing them with his steely stare.
Nor will CaseLoad forget his words of advice and support (for which he did not charge) during a worrying defamation matter which fortunately fell by the wayside.
After 18 years of High Court judging, CaseLoad wishes His Honour well in retirement.
Footnote: Latest odds around the Ladies & Escorts Lounge now give Social Development minister Paula Bennett the edge as next Justice minister (with an associate finance job) ahead of Amy Adams and Simon Bridges.
Keep up with Jock Anderson's weekly lawyer profiles here. 
