One man's efforts to "punish" the ASB bank for its allegedly deceitful behaviour have failed in both the High Court and now the Court of Appeal. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
When a man's claim for $2.5 million in relief from a bank failed in the High Court, he doubled down and asked for millions more at his next attempt.
That, too, has now failed, despite his efforts to "punish" the ASB Bank.
Angus McKenzie claimed in the High Court a list of problems, including where $18 had gone from his account, and a nine-day delay in the ASB opening his account, for which he sought $500,000.
He claimed the same amount for the bank's allegedly "deceitful and misleading" behaviour when it listed a branch number he said was linked to an address in Murchison (Tasman District) and not an ASB branch.
McKenzie claimed a further $1.5m spread over three more grievances in which he alleged fraud and theft, missing money, and the bank having been misleading and unreliable.
His allegation of theft and fraud centred on his view that his banking app had been altered and manipulated to "disguise theft".
The factual basis for the claim was that McKenzie captured and saved a screenshot of his account on the ASB banking app, which displayed an available balance of $282.28. Three days later the available balance was $264.27, leaving an $18.01 discrepancy that the bank manager had not been able to explain.
The High Court struck out his claim, and found McKenzie's argument so frivolous that it didn't even require a response from the bank.
He then appealed to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that his grievance with the ASB was neither trivial nor frivolous.
McKenzie said the events of loss via small monetary discrepancies had left him "vulnerable to attrition" and that the bank had failed him as a customer.
In an amended statement of claim, he sought a "substantially increased" amount from $500,000 in respect of each "cause of action" to $5 million, citing breaches by the bank of consumer and fair trading laws.
McKenzie argued this related to his difficulties in opening his bank account, alleged discrepancies with his account and that the banking app had misrepresented his account history resulting in the loss of $18.01.
Justices Susan Thomas, Timothy Brewer and Andru Isac said in dismissing the claim in a judgement released today that the lower court did not err in striking out the statement of claim and notice of proceeding as an abuse.
"But most importantly, we agree with the judge that the proceeding is an abuse and an improper use of the court's processes for the purposes of addressing trivial and frivolous complaints."
They said that was evident in a final paragraph of McKenzie's latest version of his statement of claim, which said he was seeking the amount to "punish" ASB Bank as a way to make it responsible for its actions.
"I am to seek an education and training abroad with the opportunities available with a huge financial reward and hopefully to better the economy by firstly scaping (sic) me from poverty and the grips of
fraudulence," he wrote.
McKenzie said if it was within his capabilities, he would be seeking a "hostile takeover of the entire bank".
He said banking was an important system in society and he believed the sorts of discrepancies that ASB was responsible for had compromised the importance of secure private banking.
The appeal court noted that McKenzie had tried to bring similar proceedings against another bank.
They too were struck out in the High Court and resulted in an unsuccessful appeal to the higher court.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
