Lease dispute an ‘attack’ on director, says lawyer

Port Marlborough’s lawyers say an aquarium director should have ‘‘cleaned his hands’’ before coming to trial last week, after he embarked on a media campaign to ‘‘dirty the port’s name’’ over a lease dispute.

But during closing statements for the High Court trial on Wednesday, Ecoworld Aquarium & Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre’s lawyer Toby Gee said John Reuhman was subject to an ‘‘ambush’’ during cross-examination.

Gee told Justice David Gendall that Port Marlborough’s lawyers had made a ‘‘sustained attack on one man’’.

He said Reuhman was a ‘‘selfconfessed greenie’’, who tried to come up with ways to make Picton a better place.

He looked after native animals, rehabilitated them, worked 60 to 70 hours a week and paid himself and his staff the living wage, Gee said.

He said attacks on Reuhman’s character were ‘‘unfair, unjustified and wrong’’.

‘‘The port [is] now seeking to paint Mr Reuhman as a serial liar. It’s difficult to come to a conclusion other than the port appears to hate Mr Reuhman.

‘‘Mr Reuhman’s character should not be what this case is about, it should be about whether the port promised a 10-year right of renewal, and if so, whether it should be held to that promise.’’

Gee maintained Reuhman had been offered a lease in 2015 and had always operated in the belief this was the case. He said Reuhman kept going back to Port Marlborough to negotiate better terms while under the impression he had already secured the lease renewal.

Port Marlborough’s lawyer David Friar maintained there was never an agreement reached.

He said the lease expired on July 22 last year, and Ecoworld had failed to vacate the land. As such, Port Marlborough had chosen to come to the High Court seeking possession of the property, and costs to cover the rehoming or release of wildlife and removal of the building.

Friar said the welfare of the animals was important, which meant they could not just go in and ‘‘change the locks’’.

He said Reuhman had used ‘‘public relations leverage’’ and embarked on a media campaign in order to secure a new lease on the terms he wanted, and in doing so dragged Port

Marlborough’s name ‘‘through the mud’’.

‘‘The end has come, this dispute should not be prolonged any further,’’ Friar said.

Over the trial, the port alleged Reuhman only paid $1 for Ecoworld, lived on the foreshore site fulltime, was in breach of his resource consent and lied on a ‘‘profile’’ about being a practising solicitor.

Friar said Reuhman’s evidence lacked credibility, and he was never prepared to take responsibility. He said the aquarium was rundown, dirty, and did not meet industry standards.

‘‘It was always someone else’s fault,’’ Friar said.

Port Marlborough chief executive Rhys Welbourn told Reuhman in 2015 the port was prepared to offer a 10-year rightof-renewal, but also wanted to change the rent review method as management thought the $11,885 annual rent was very low for the 910m2 foreshore site, and it had not changed since 2011.

But when Welbourn took the stand last week, he said Reuhman wanted his rent reduced, and emailed back an ‘‘extensive list of changes’’.

Some of those changes included reduced rent, and the removal of a future development clause in the lease, which allowed the port to evict him with three months notice, should it need the land.

The port was prepared to accept some of his requests but not all. It offered to extend the development clause to 12 months, but would not reduce rent. Welbourn reminded Reuhman in the email any changes had to be formally written into the lease to become effective.

After an email in 2018, they did not hear back from Reuhman about the lease for three years.

As the lease expiry approached, Welbourn said he decided to seek board approval for funds to help manage the aquarium’s closure.

The board agreed to make a confidential payment to Ecoworld to help rehome the wildlife of up to $100,000, on top of up to $400,000 the port expected to pay to remove the building.

The port would also contract a manager and maintain the aquarium system for up to 12 months during the re-homing or release of the wildlife.