M.P. ordered to pay $2370 debt

Press, 2 November 1981, Page 12

M.P. ordered to pay $2370 debt

PA Whangarei The member of Parliament for Whangarei, Mr J. G. Elliott, has been ordered by the District Court to pay a debt of $2370 to a Whangarei orchid-growing nursery, C. and J. Kearney. He was also ordered to pay $10.71 interest, $162.20 solicitor’s fees, $30.40 costs, and $l3 witnesses’ expenses. The plaintiffs had claimed they agreed to supply Mr Elliott with 5000 orchid plants for $4OOO, or 80c a plant. They, said the plants were offered at a discount price to help Mr Elliott establish an orchid cut-flower industry and on the understanding that Mr Elliott would grow the plants for this purpose. In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs said it was agreed that all the ilants would be uplifted by lie end of April, 1980, and full payment would be made before the date of delivery. They said that in October, 1979, Mr Elliott paid off $l3OO of this debt, but the

plants were not picked up on the agreed date. In August, 1980, the plaintiffs wrote to Mr Elliott asking him to uplift the plants by the end Of that month and to pay $5620, which included the remainder. of the $4OOO debt and sums for “growing on,” labour, and potting mix and trays. The plaintiffs said the plants were uplifted by Mr Elliott and $3250 was paid. They said they asked Mr Elliott to pay the outstanding sum of $2370 but he “refused, neglected, or omitted” to pay it. The plaintiffs said Mr Elliott disposed of all the plants, within a short time of receiving them, at a “considerable profit” and as a result, was “unjustly enriched” at their expense. They claimed that in the five months between, the agreed date and the actual date of collection, their activities were restricted because of the space taken up in their shadehouse by the plants.

Mr Elliott, in his statement of defence, admitted he agreed to buy the 5600 plants but denied it was at the price the plaintiffs claimed. He said it was agreed the plants would be supplied at a cheap rate calculated per flask, not per plant. The amount claimed by the Kearneys was considerably more than contemplated at the time. Mr Elliott admitted the plants were not uplifted by the end of April, 1980, but claimed there was no agreement that the plants would be collected then or that payment would be made before delivery. He said the plants were not available for uplifting either at the end of April or on August 31. One of the plaintiffs had told him that “time was not of the essence” and that the plaintiffs had agreed to help him erect his shadehouse before the plants were uplifted, he said. He said this work was not done by August 31, preventing him from collecting the plants.