Partner

Christina Bryant

LLB (Hons) / MA (Medical Ethics & Law) (KCL)
Profile
Christina is a partner in the Disputes Team.

An experienced advocate, she appears regularly as counsel at High Court and appellate level.  Her practice focuses on complex civil claims, primarily in the construction, property and insurance sectors. 

Christina acts for consultants, contractors, manufacturers and their insurers in adjudications, arbitrations and litigation proceedings, which include significant Court of Appeal and Supreme Court decisions.  She has represented clients in Royal Commissions and Government Inquiries into catastrophic building or infrastructure failures, and in matters arising out the regulation of the construction and building supply industries.  Her insurance practice focuses on liability claims against professional service providers.

Christina joined Hesketh Henry in 2003, following postgraduate study and practice in London.  She is a faculty member of the NZLS Litigation Skills programme and an Associate of AMINZ.  She is recommended by Legal 500 in insurance, real estate and construction and speaks regularly on issues arising in those sectors.

 

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Experience

Examples of work completed by Christina include:

  • Savvy Vineyards 4334 Ltd v Weta Estate Ltd [2020] NZSC 115, [2020] 1 NZLR 714. Rights and remedies for the wrongful repudiation of commercial contracts.
  • Infinity Enterprises NZ Ltd v Kinara Trustee Ltd [2020] 3 NZLR 626 (CA) and [2020] NZSC 131. Claim for an unregistered easement over a commercial property development.
  • Red Stag Timber Ltd v Juken New Zealand Ltd including [2018] NZHC 2459. Fair Trading Act dispute between competitors in the building products industry.
  • West v West [2017] NZHC 3110 and appeals. Defence of a law firm in a family property dispute.
  • Savvy Vineyards 3552 Ltd v Kakara Estate Ltd [2015] 1 NZLR 281 (SC). Leading NZ authority on the assignment and novation of contracts.
  • Savvy Vineyards 3784 Ltd v Arck Ltd [2015] NZCA 534. Interpretation and enforcement of options to purchase grapes.
  • Newhaven Waldorf Management Ltd v Allen (2015) 17 NZCPR 176. Enforcement of an encumbrance protecting management rights in a multi-building development complex.
  • Watts & Hughes Construction Ltd v Complete Siteworks Co Ltd (2014) 22 PRNZ 397 (CA). Enforcement of a progress payment claim under the Construction Contracts Act 2002.
  • I-Health Ltd v iSoft NZ Ltd [2012] 1 NZLR 379 (CA). Enforcement of a limitation clause in a contract for the sale of a business.
  • Carter Holt Harvey Ltd v Genesis Power Ltd and Rolls-Royce New Zealand Ltd including [2005] 1 NZLR 324 (CA), [2006] 3 NZLR 794 (HC) and various unreported judgments. Claim for alleged defects in a cogeneration plant at Kinleith Mill. NZ’s largest construction claim.
  • Representing engineering consultants at the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of the CTV building and the Government Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking-water Outbreak.
  • Acting for professional service providers in professional conduct proceedings, Health and Disability Commissioner investigations and coroner’s inquests.
Media
Publications
  • Getting the Deal Through – Construction 2019 (Accreditation: Reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd. This article was first published in Lexology Getting the Deal Through – Construction 2019 (Published: July 2019). For further information please visit www.gettingthedealthrough.com
  • Bryant (ed) and Murray, Contract Law Made Easy – MyLaw Guide – LexisNexis 2017

Insights & Opinion / Christina Bryant

polar bears
A challenging environment
As the realities of climate change become apparent, more and more countries are enacting framework climate change laws to mount a domestic response to the global challenge.  The sufficiency of these ...
10.03.2023 Posted in Climate Change
Climate Change and the Construction Industry: Shaping the Emissions Reduction Plan
New Zealand’s first emissions reduction plan (ERP) is due to be published in May 2022.
28.10.2021 Posted in Climate Change & Construction
Construction
Climate Change and the Construction Industry: Counting down to a national strategy
The Government is getting closer to the publication of a national strategy for responding to climate change.
21.09.2021 Posted in Climate Change & Construction
Gavel
My way or the highway: repudiation, cancellation and dispute resolution clauses
In Jade Residential Ltd v Paul, the Court of Appeal reviewed two issues which may arise in contractual disputes: The right to cancel a contract for “partial” repudiation; and Whether an aggrieved...
19.11.2020 Posted in Construction & Disputes & Property
contracts flying
Is a Contract a Contract (if a Court says it’s not)?
Savvy Vineyards 4334 Ltd v Weta Estate Ltd [2020] NZSC 115
06.11.2020 Posted in Business Advice & Disputes
Construction
COVID-19: Weekly Construction Briefings
12 June 2020 New Zealand has moved into Alert Level 1 from 8 June 2020. While this means that life has largely returned to normal, as physical distancing and other restrictions have been removed, upd...
12.06.2020 Posted in Construction & COVID-19
Construction
COVID-19: Government contract guidelines for NZS3910:2013
The Government has announced contract guidelines to help support the construction industry during the Covid-19 restrictions.  These apply to contracts based on NZS3910:2013 (un-amended), being the mo...
08.04.2020 Posted in Construction & COVID-19
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