Dr Joseph Spooner contributes expert evidence to the New Zealand High Court

Dr Joseph Spooner provided expert witness evidence to the New Zealand High Court in the recent class action litigation in Simons, Beavan and others v ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. and ABS Bank Ltd. [2026] NZHC 1154. Dr Spooner’s evidence was called by the plaintiffs, Andrew Beavan and Mei Lim, as they successfully sought summary judgment against ANZ Bank New Zealand in respect of a breach of obligations owed by the lender under New Zealand legislation on consumer credit contracts.

The plaintiffs’ case was brought as a representative proceeding on behalf of approximately 17,000 New Zealand consumers, all of whom received incorrect information disclosures from ANZ regarding details of their loans with the bank, leading also to errors in the calculation and charging of interest to these borrowers. It is understood that the case is one of the largest class actions in the history of New Zealand. Previous stages of the litigation, concerning points of procedural law regarding class actions, reached the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

In his High Court judgment on the substance of the claim, Venning J referred to the evidence of Dr Spooner, noting that it emphasised the importance of assessing the impact of lenders’ inaccurate disclosures by reference to the broader aims served by consumer finance regulation. The judge stated that Dr Spooner considered that ongoing inaccurate disclosure by major institutions such as banks may lead to customers losing their ability to rely on the information provided by lenders concerning their rights and obligations. This raised a risk of undermining trust and consumer confidence, as well as expectations of fair treatment, in consumer finance markets.

Dr Spooner’s expert evidence in this case builds upon his longstanding research on questions of law and policy relating to personal debt, consumer finance, and consumer litigation. Details of Dr Spooner’s publications, further research, and teaching in these areas can be found here.

The judgment of Venning J in Simons, Beavan and others v ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. and ABS Bank Ltd. [2026] NZHC 1154 can be read here.