KEY POINTS:
Dutch honorary consul to New Zealand Alex van Heeren has been awarded $6000 in costs after being sued by an English private detective after a multi-million dollar business partnership went sour.
Nearly a decade ago, Mr van Heeren and Michael Kidd's business partnership, which included Taupo's exclusive Huka Lodge and had assets estimated at US$38.5 million ($53.68m), broke up.
The pair signed agreements settling the business, and Mr Kidd was paid US$3m but later said he had been ripped off and hired English private detective Bryan Cooper to recover the money.
Mr Cooper was arrested for intimidating and extorting Mr van Heeren, charges which were withdrawn after he accepted police diversion.
He then sued Mr van Heeren for $1m over various aspects of his arrest but reached a settlement with him.
But Mr Cooper said Mr van Heeren broke the confidentiality of that settlement and continued to accuse him of extortion, a claim first dismissed by the High Court and now by the Court of Appeal, which has also awarded Mr van Heeren $6000 in costs.
The Court of Appeal ruled the settlement was "an attempt to end the mudslinging" but the confidentiality clause had not ruled out giving evidence in court, and said some case detail came from already published law journals.
"To the very limited extent that disclosure was made, it came from a cat which was already out of the bag."
Mr Kidd and Mr van Heeren are still conducting their "theatre of warfare" in the South African courts, the Court of Appeal said.
- NZPA
