Prominent south Auckland real estate agent and horse owner Don Ha has lost his Court of Appeal bid to overturn a ruling that he pay New Zealand Bloodstock Finance (NZBF) $2.2 million after a horse sale wrangle involving two well known thoroughbred trainers.
Mr Ha came to prominence in the racing world in 2007 when he paid $2 million for a yearling filly bred from star stallion Zabeel and New Zealand's most famous racemare, Sunline.
He paid out big sums for other stock, but he is now understood to have left the racing game.
His Diamond Stud used a NZBF finance contract in 2007 to purchase a number of horses.
Two of the horses purchased were offered for sale by the stud at the New Zealand Bloodstock sales in January 2008. The auctioneers knocked down a Zabeel colt to Waikato trainer Graeme Rogerson for $420,000 and a Redoute's Choice filly to south Auckland trainer Stephen McKee for $540,000.
The Court of Appeal judgment released today said that acting on instructions of Diamond Stud's manager, both horses were delivered to the stud's stables. NZ Bloodstock invoiced the stud for the purchases and also credited it with the net proceeds of the sale of the horses, thus reducing the amount owed to NZBF under their contracts.
Mr Ha did not dispute that Mr Rogerson and Mr McKee were bidding on behalf of him and the stud at the auction, the appeal court said.
But he resisted the summary judgment against him and stud for just over $2.2m, issued by Associate Judge David Abbott in the High Court at Auckland in April.
Mr Ha and the stud contended that under the conditions of sale Mr Rogerson and Mr McKee were deemed to enter their bids as principals and so were solely responsible to pay the purchase price.
"It followed, in the appellants' submission, that the purchase price had been wrongly debited to their account," the appeal court said.
It decided that Associate Judge Abbott's interpretation of the conditions of sale was correct and that Mr Ha and the stud were liable.
"Neither Mr McKee nor Mr Rogerson has ever asserted any entitlement to the horses," the bench of three justices said. "Any attempt by Diamond Stud to recover the price from them would have been met with the entirely proper response that they were entitled to indemnity from Diamond Stud as their principal."
The court ordered Mr Ha and the stud to pay NZBF's costs.
The Sunday Star-Times reported earlier this year that the Zabeel colt was sold for just $1500 after being diagnosed with breathing problems, with the Redoute's Choice filly sold for $250,000.
