Claim against tourism organisation fails
A Christchurch tourism operator who challenged Christchurch Canterbury Tourism’s decision to cancel his membership has lost his civil claim and has been ordered to pay costs.
Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar has issued his reserved decision, five weeks after a half-day hearing at which the civil claim by Robin Max McCarthy, trading as the Christchurch Tours Group, was argued.
Mr McCarthy claimed $200,000 “compensation” from Christchurch Canterbury Tourism Ltd, trading as Christchurch Canterbury Marketing, for “abruptly” terminating his membership resulting in “loss of promotion for his business, loss of income, loss of reputation, lost opportunity costs, and considerable personal and employee stress”.
CCM operates a private organisation which advertises and promotes tourism. It works with tourist operators to promote their services by providing a subscription service through which operators can advertise their brochures within CCM’s premises for an annual fee.
Operators are also able to sell their services through CCM’s Visitor Centre, for which CCM takes a 12.5 per cent commission.
Mr McCarthy runs several tours and has promoted his business activities and subscribed to CCM’s services since about 2003. He has displayed his brochures at CCM’s Visitor Centre and sold his tours through the centre.
The judge noted that the terms and conditions of membership gave CCM the right to terminate membership in certain circumstances.
The general manager of CCM, Andrew Brice, said the organisation frequently had difficulties with Mr McCarthy, who would criticise and question decisions made by staff of the Visitor Centre, and would question various policies.
Mr Brice said that from about 2010, CCM began having concerns about Mr McCarthy’s brochures because he was continuing to display brochures for services that had been discontinued. Details of some services had been crossed out and new prices drawn in vivid marker. He had discontinued tours of Christchurch homes and gardens and simply stamped over this information to show they were discontinued.
CCM decided not to display the brochures until they were updated, triggering a new round of arguments.
On December 6, 2010, Mr Brice wrote to Mr McCarthy about “constantly harassing front line staff in the Visitor Centre”, and telling him that because of a number of recent episodes where he had behaved in an aggressive and intimidating manner to the staff, his membership was being terminated.
Mr McCarthy took issue with CCM’s decision about his brochures and its right to terminate his membership.
Judge Kellar ruled that CCM was entitled to terminate his membership “given what it perceived to be the state of the brochures”. He said: “Mr McCarthy’s conduct towards CCM staff was of such a nature that CCM was entitled to terminate his membership.”
He said Mr McCarthy would have had to establish that he had suffered loss “as a result of any wrongful repudiation of the contract”.
There was no doubt that Mr McCarthy had suffered significant loss of business following the February 2011 earthquake.
“He has failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that any loss he suffered occurred as a consequence of CCM refusing to display his brochures and terminating his membership. The loss is, however, attributable entirely to the downturn in tourist business that followed that cataclysmic event,” said the judge.
He ruled that Mr McCarthy’s claim failed, and ordered him to pay costs.
Category: News
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