Errol Anderson, founding trustee and former registrar of NZ Trustees Association, was ordered to pay $8000 and the Association itself pay $36,000 as penalties for sending thousands of unsolicited emails, part of a marketing campaign.
The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act prohibits mass email marketing campaigns without recipient consent.
NZ Trustees Association Charitable Trust was established in 1997 offering information for trustees and company directors in performance of their legal duties. In 2016, it chose to deregister as a charity after a bruising legal battle over its advertising methods. The High Court was told NZ Trustees commenced a membership drive in October 2015 aimed at 26,000 charities offering what it called a ‘donation of membership.’ NZ Trustees offered twelve months free membership to subscribers with annual membership fees payable in subsequent years. Members received a website listing, access to an 0800 number, an email helpdesk, support services and copies of NZ Trustees publications. On eight separate occasions, a total of more than 53,000 unsolicited emails were sent to over 14,000 recipients. More than one hundred complaints were made to Internal Affairs. As a membership drive, the campaigns were moderately successful; revenue increased by $48,500.
NZ Trustees compounded its legal difficulties by sending out further unsolicited emails requiring payment of annual subscriptions after being warned by Internal Affairs that it was under investigation and that mass solicitation should stop. NZ Trustees subsequently retracted these emailed invoices and apologised to recipients.
Both NZ Trustees and Mr Anderson were fined for breaching the Act. Mr Anderson received no direct financial benefit from the mass mailout, but was largely responsible for its implementation, Justice Lang said. Mr Anderson’s application for name suppression was dismissed. Embarrassment on publication is not grounds for suppression, Justice Lang said. Mr Anderson has more than two decades involvement in the trust sector.
Internal Affairs v. NZ Trustees Association Charitable Trust and Anderson – High Court (21.10.19) & (8.11.19)
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