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Supreme Court case information

Listed below are the substantive Supreme Court cases for the year along with appeals still to be determined or cases awaiting hearing. 

Information giving an overview of the case is included along with media releases and links to judgments being appealed when available.

All 2024 - 2014 Supreme Court cases dismissed or deemed to be dismissed where a notice of abandonment was received can be found here.

Transcripts for cases heard before the Supreme Court are included provided they are not suppressed. Transcripts from pre-trial hearings are not published until the final disposition of trial. These are unedited transcripts and they are not a formal record of the Court’s proceedings. The Ministry of Justice does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use.

24 June 2024

Case information summary 2024 (as at 21 June 2024) –  Cases where leave granted (121 KB)
Case information summary 2024 (as at 21 June 2024)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 125 KB)

All years

Case name
Maka Tuikolovatu v the Queen
Case number
SC 96/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Appeal against conviction – Murder / Accessory after the fact – Crimes Act 1961, s 167(b) and (d) – Whether trial Judge misdirected jury by referring to degrees of murder – Whether Court of Appeal correct to conclude there was no miscarriage of justice. [2013] NZCA 282  CA 527/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
SHADROCK v R [2013] NZSC 96 [9 October 2013] (PDF, 64 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

9 October 2013
Case name
Najeeb Dawood Dawood v the Queen
Case number
SC 97/2013
Summary
Criminal – Sentence – s 104 Crimes Act 1961 – whether a sentence of a minimum term of 17 years imprisonment was manifestly unjust in the circumstances.   [2013] NZCA 381  CA 109/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
NAJEEB DAWOOD DAWOOD v R [2013] NZSC 118 [13 November 2013] (PDF, 43 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

13 November 2013
Case name
PPT v The Queen
Case number
SC 98/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in law by ruling that the propensity evidence is admissible.[2013] NZCA 365  CA 276/2012, CA 426/2013
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

15 October 2013
Case name
V v The Queen
Case number
SC 99/2013
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against Conviction – Appeal out of time – Historic offending – Representative counts of rape, sexual violation and indecent assault – Self-representation at Court of Appeal hearing resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice – Failure to make oral submissions at hearing – Difficulties with memory hindered ability to conduct appeal – Breach of s 25(h) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.[2012] NZCA 14  CA 107/2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
V (SC99/2013) v R [2013] NZSC 129 [26 November 2013] (PDF, 47 KB)
Recall judgment
sc 99 2013 v v the queen recall judgment (PDF, 44 KB)
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

Application for recall of judgement dismissed.

26 November 2013
Case name
Darren George Hosking  v The Queen
Case number
SC 100/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Fair trial – Whether the applicant was denied a fair trial because he was convicted on the basis of false allegations.[2012] NZCA 460   CA 317/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
sc100 2013 hosking v the queen (PDF, 50 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

13 December 2013.
Case name
John Anthony Edwards v The District Court, Dunedin, The District Court, Oamaru, Waitaki District Council
Case number
SC 101/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal – Procedure – Was the Court of Appeal correct to treat the applicant’s appeal as being out of time and to hold that the grounds of appeal raised could not succeed.  [2013] NZCA 382   CA 185/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
sc 101 2013 edwards v district court others (PDF, 51 KB)
Dates

A         The application for leave to appeal is dismissed

B          The applicant is to pay costs of $2,500 to the Waitaki District Council

 15 November 2013
Case name
Nicholas Paul Alfred Reekie  v Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections and Visiting Justice to Springhill Correctional Facility
Case number
SC 102/2013
Transcripts
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
NICHOLAS PAUL ALFRED REEKIE v ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2014] NZSC 63 [29 May 2014] (PDF, 240 KB)
Recall judgment
ourts/supreme-court/case-summaries/case-information-2013/sc-47-2013-reekie-nicholas-v-department-of.pdf (PDF, 9 KB)

Summary
 

Security for costs – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing the application to review the Registrar’s decision refusing to dispense with security for costs.

[2013] NZCA 422    CA 170/2013
Dates

27 November 2013 and 5 December 2013

Elias CJ, McGrath, William Young, Glazebrook, Arnold JJ.

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

29 May 2014.

Application for recall dismissed.

30 July 2014.
Case name
LSG Sky Chefs New Zealand Limited v Pacific  Flight Catering Limited and PRI Flight Catering Limited
Case number
SC 103/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal –  Employment Relations Act 2000 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that s 69J of the Employment Relations Act 2000 had the effect of extinguishing the transferring employer’s accrued contractual obligations to a transferred employee – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that s 69J of the Employment Relations Act 2000 absolved the transferring employer from liability to the new employer for the accrued contractual entitlements of a transferred employee – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in using the Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2013 as an aid to interpretation of the Employment Relations Act 2000.   [2013] NZCA 386   CA 758/2012
Result

A Leave to appeal is granted.
B The ground for appeal is whether, under Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act 2000, the respondents are liable to reimburse the applicant for the cost of accrued leave entitlements of the respondents’ former employees on their transfer to the applicant.
6 December 2013

___________________

The appeal is dismissed.
The appellant is to pay the respondents costs of $25,000 and reasonable disbursements as fixed by the Registrar.

5 November 2014
Transcript

Hearing date : 19 August 2014

Elias CJ, McGrath, William Young, Glazebrook, Arnold JJ.
Case name
Mikhail Rafael Pandey-Johnson v The Queen
Case number
SC 104/2013
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against conviction and sentence – Murder – Whether Court of Appeal erred in concluding that Crown had proved causation – Whether trial counsel erred in failing to challenge causation at trial – Whether evidence of Crown witness was admissible – Whether minimum non-parole period imposed was too high – Whether factors in s 104 of the Sentencing Act 2002 applied.  [2012] NZCA 595    CA 515/2011
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MIKHAIL RAFAEL PANDEY-JOHNSON v R [2013] NZSC 135 [2 December 2013] (PDF, 60 KB)
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

 2 December 2013
Case name
Peter William Mawhinney v Nags Head Horse Hotel Limited
Case number
SC 105/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in determining that knowledge of a priority agreement between mortgagees was binding on all parties with that knowledge notwithstanding that the priorities had not been registered – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in determining that knowledge by an attorney amounts to knowledge on the part of a principal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the High Court decision that the proceedings could be determined summarily – Whether the Court of Appeal failed to have proper regard to Westpac New Zealand Ltd v Clark [2008] NZCA 346 – Whether the Court of Appeal judgment is based on incorrect facts.[2013] NZCA 401  CA 28/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MAWHINNEY v NAGS HEAD HORSE HOTEL LIMITED [2013] NZSC 120 [14 November 2013] (PDF, 52 KB)
Dates

A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

B The applicant is to pay to the respondent costs of $2,500.

14 November 2013.
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