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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Other commercial matters - Carriage of goods - Proceedings against carriers

277: Non-notified proceeding may be brought with carrier’s consent or leave of court

You could also call this:

“You can sue a carrier without giving notice if they agree or if the court allows it”

You can bring a proceeding against a carrier even if you didn’t give proper notice of your claim. This can happen in two ways. First, the carrier might agree to let you bring the proceeding anyway. If the carrier doesn’t agree, you can ask the court for permission to bring the proceeding.

If you want to ask the court for permission, you need to do it before the time limit set in section 278 or 279 runs out. When you ask, the court will decide if it’s fair to let you bring the proceeding. The court will think about two things: why you didn’t give proper notice, and whether not giving notice caused problems for the carrier.

The court might say yes if you made a mistake about the facts or the law (but not about sections 274 to 276 or this section), or if there was another good reason you didn’t give notice. The court will also check if the carrier was seriously affected by not getting proper notice.

If the court decides to let you bring the proceeding, it might set some rules you need to follow.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844598.

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276: No notice required if carrier is or ought to be aware of damage or loss or in case of fraud, or

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278: Limitation on proceedings against carriers for loss of goods, or

"You must act quickly if a carrier loses your stuff"

Part 5 Other commercial matters
Carriage of goods: Proceedings against carriers

277Non-notified proceeding may be brought with carrier’s consent or leave of court

  1. A carrier may consent to a proceeding being brought against the carrier even if a notice of the claim was not properly given.

  2. If the carrier does not consent, an application may be made to the court, after notice to the carrier, for leave to bring the proceeding.

  3. The application must be made before the expiry of the period set by section 278 or 279.

  4. On application being made to it, the court may, if it thinks it just to do so, grant leave to bring the proceeding against the carrier if the court considers that—

  5. the failure to give notice was caused by mistake of fact or by mistake of any matter of law (other than the provisions of sections 274 to 276 or this section) or by any other reasonable cause; and
    1. the intended defendant was not materially prejudiced in that person’s defence or otherwise by the failure to give proper notice.

      1. Leave may be granted on the terms and conditions that the court thinks fit.

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