Daniel Reuel Sproull has been in a battle with WorkSafe since December 2018, when an inspector tried to check on one of his Manawatū farms.
Daniel Reuel Sproull has been in a battle with WorkSafe since December 2018, when an inspector tried to check on one of his Manawatū farms.
That battle made it to the High Court, where Justice Cameron Mander declined Sproull’s appeal against convictions for obstructing WorkSafe inspectors.
He was convicted after a judge-alone trial – where he represented himself, asked no questions and called no evidence – in December.
He questioned the authority of WorkSafe inspectors when they tried to perform compliance checks, used his vehicle to block access to a building they wanted to check, and failed to tell inspectors why he was not present for pre-arranged inspections.
In his appeal, Sproull challenged the evidence finding the inspectors had legal authority to do their job.
He could only be found guilty if it was proven he failed to give all reasonable assistance to a legally appointed inspector.
While the judge-alone trial involved inspectors showing their identity cards and signed documents asserting their authority, Sproull appealed.
WorkSafe had stated the chief executive of WorkSafe had the authority to delegate, but during the appeal accepted that authority was a power delegated by the board of WorkSafe.
That information was available to be presented before or during the trial, but was not.
In his judgment, Justice Mander said not disclosing that information prior to the trial was not prejudicial to Sproull.
All the information did was further confirm the chief executive’s authority, which was what the evidence was at trial.
Sproull had appealed his fine, but abandoned that before the appeal was heard.
Legal notice about Intellectual Property in digital contents. All information contained in these pages that is NOT owned by eDairy News and is NOT considered “public domain” by legal regulations, are registered trademarks of their respective owners and recognized by our company as such. The publication on the eDairy News website is made for the purpose of gathering information, respecting the rules contained in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; in Law 11.723 and other applicable rules. Any claim arising from the information contained in the eDairy News website shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary Courts of the First Judicial District of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina, with seat in the City of Córdoba, excluding any other jurisdiction, including the Federal.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
eDairy News Spanish
eDairy News PORTUGUESE
The most visited dairy news website in the world.
