Investor withdraws claim

Hanover Finance says a small Te Puke investor has withdrawn his Disputes Tribunal claim against the financier off his own bat.

Yesterday Michael Fallows wrote to the tribunal requesting that his claim for $697 owed to his teenage daughter be dismissed. "I now accept that the Disputes Tribunal has no jurisdiction over my claim," he said.

Fallows made the claim on the grounds that Hanover had misled him in its prospectus, and if he had been correctly informed the family would never have made the investment.

Hanover responded by taking the matter to the High Court, saying the Disputes Tribunal did not have the authority to hear the matter.

However, Hanover part-owner Mark Hotchin said the lender had not pressured or settled with Fallows. "We've had no contact with him."

If the tribunal had ruled in the Fallows' favour it could have opened the floodgates for Hanover's 16,500 other investors to also make claims. Hanover is in moratorium, agreeing to repay investors $527 million over five years.