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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Other commercial matters - Carriage of goods - Other provisions relating to liability of carriers

266: Rights of contracting party where contracting carrier insolvent or cannot be found

You could also call this:

“What you can do if the moving company you hired goes bankrupt or disappears”

If a company that you hired to move your goods (called a contracting carrier) owes you money because they lost or damaged your stuff, but they’ve gone bankrupt or you can’t find them, you have some special rights.

You can go after the person who actually moved your goods (called the actual carrier) in the same way the contracting carrier could have. This means you can ask the actual carrier for money to cover your loss.

If you decide to take the actual carrier to court, they can use any defences against you that they would have been able to use against the contracting carrier. Also, if you win your case against the actual carrier, the contracting carrier can’t try to sue for the same thing later.

These rules apply no matter what other laws say about companies going bankrupt or becoming insolvent.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844577.

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265: Provisions relating to joint liability of actual carriers, or

"Rules for sharing responsibility when multiple carriers are involved in a journey"

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267: Liquidator or assignee in bankruptcy holds money on trust, or

"Money from lost or damaged goods must go to customers first when a company closes"

Part 5 Other commercial matters
Carriage of goods: Other provisions relating to liability of carriers

266Rights of contracting party where contracting carrier insolvent or cannot be found

  1. This section applies if—

  2. the contracting carrier is liable to the contracting party for the loss of or damage to any goods; and
    1. the contracting carrier is insolvent or cannot with reasonable diligence be found.

      1. Despite sections 261 to 265, the contracting party has the same rights (if any) against the actual carrier as the contracting carrier has under section 263(1)(b).

      2. If the contracting party brings any proceeding against an actual carrier in respect of any of those rights,—

      3. the actual carrier has the same rights (if any) against the contracting party (including the right of set-off) as the actual carrier would have had under the contract if the proceeding had been brought against the actual carrier by the contracting carrier:
        1. if judgment in the proceeding is awarded against the actual carrier, the judgment is an absolute bar to the bringing by the contracting carrier, or by any person claiming through the contracting carrier, of any proceeding to enforce the same right.

          1. This section applies despite anything in the Companies Act 1993, the Insolvency Act 2006, or any other enactment.

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