Subscribe to the RSS feed Print this page

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
William  Victor George Conway  v The Queen
Case number
SC 106/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Resource Management Act 1991, s 15(1)(b) – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the evidence relied on by the Crown supported the conviction of the applicant on the counts alleging breach of enforcement orders – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in ruling admissible the prior statement of the applicant where supplementary information was required to interpret correctly the content of the statement – Whether the Court of Appeal erred by effectively ruling that under s 15(1)(b) the Crown did not need to establish a real risk that the contaminant discharge onto the land might enter water – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in accepting the ruling of the trial Judge as to the verdicts which ought to have been accepted from the jury where the jury had returned verdicts of guilty on all the charges the applicant faced including the counts laid against him in the alternative[2013] NZCA 438   CA 806/2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WILLIAM VICTOR GEORGE CONWAY v R [2013] NZSC 103 [24 October 2013] (PDF, 51 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
24 October 2013
Case name
Joan Mary Gilfedder   v The Queen
Case number
SC 107/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal– s 385(1) of the Crimes Act 1961 –  whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that no miscarriage of justice arose from the failure of the trial judge to give a propensity direction to the jury – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that no miscarriage of justice arose from the use of a question trail during the trial – whether the Court of Appeal applied the proviso to s 385(1) of the Crimes Act and, if so, whether it was correct to do so.[2013] NZCA 426   CA 547/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JOAN MARY GILFEDDER v R [2013] NZSC 145 [13 December 2013] (PDF, 85 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

13 December 2013
Case name
Tauranga Law v John Appleton and Natalie Marie Ryan as trustees of the Appleton Family Trust and John Appleton.
Case number
SC 108/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal – Negligence – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to the issue of causation in particular  whether, if properly advised, the applicant would nevertheless have entered the transaction.[2013] NZCA 420   CA 858/2011
Result
A. Leave to appeal is granted.
 B. The approved ground of appeal is whether the Court of Appeal’s judgment was correct on the issue of causation.
 
 18 November 2013 ________________________ A    The appeal is allowed.
B    The respondents are to pay the appellant costs of $25,000 plus reasonable disbursements (to be set by the Registrar if necessary).
C    The costs order made in the Court of Appeal are set aside and any costs order in the High Court is reinstated.  If costs cannot be agreed for the Court of Appeal, costs should be set by that Court in the light of this judgment. 19 February 2015
Substantive judgment
Tauranga Law v John Appleton and Natalie Marie Ryan as Trustees of the Appleton Family Trust [2015] NZSC 3 (PDF, 2.2 MB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 1  July 2014

Elias CJ, McGrath, William Young, Glazebrook,  Arnold   JJ.
Case name
Ngawati Heemi    v The Queen
Case number
SC 109/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – s 385(1) of the Crimes Act 1961 –  whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that no miscarriage of justice arose from the failure of the trial judge to give a propensity direction to the jury – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that no miscarriage of justice arose from the use of a question trail during the trial – whether the Court of Appeal applied the proviso to s 385(1) of the Crimes Act and, if so, whether it was correct to do so.[2013] NZCA 426   CA 594/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JOAN MARY GILFEDDER v R [2013] NZSC 145 [13 December 2013] (PDF, 85 KB)
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

13 December 2013.
Case name
David Neil Balfour  v The Queen
Case number
SC 110/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Animal welfare – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the District Court Judge’s pre-trial ruling was correct – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that there was no improper use of representative charges – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to rule the evidence of two expert witnesses as inadmissible.  [2013] NZCA 429   CA 445/2012
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

18 December 2013.
Case name
Daryl Kirsty Reid Balfour   v The Queen
Case number
SC 111/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Animal welfare – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the District Court Judge’s pre-trial ruling was correct – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that there was no improper use of representative charges – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to rule the evidence of two expert witnesses as inadmissible.  [2013] NZCA 429   CA 444/2012
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

18 December 2013.
Case name
JLM   v The Queen
Case number
SC 112/2013
Summary
[2013] NZCA 432   CA 230/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JOHN LESTER MACKENZIE v R [2013] NZSC 143 [10 December 2013] (PDF, 57 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal is dismissed

10 December 2013
Case name
K   v The Queen
Case number
SC 113/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the evidence of the taped conversation was wrongly admitted at trial.[2013] NZCA 430   CA 106/2013
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

20 February 2014.
Case name
FMB   v The Queen
Case number
SC 114/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Pre-trial – Cultivation of Cannabis – Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, s 9 – Breach of implied licence by police officer – Trespass – Evidence of cultivation obtained in the course of illegal search of property –Admission of improperly obtained evidence under Crimes Act 1961, s 379AB – Whether Court of Appeal correctly concluded that exclusion of the improperly obtained evidence would be disproportionate to the impropriety given the moderately serious breach of applicant’s rights and seriousness of the offending – Whether Court of Appeal correctly took into account the maximum penalty for the offence rather than the likely penalty the applicant would receive in their assessment of whether the offending was serious – Evidence Act 2006, s 30 – Admission of evidence is a substantial miscarriage of justice. [2013] NZCA 258   CA 66/2013
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

26  November 2014.
Case name
SLB   v The Queen
Case number
SC 115/2013
Summary
Notice of abandonment being filed, the application for leave to appeal is deemed to be dismissed.13 November 2013.[2013] NZCA 432   CA 295/2013
Page 154 of 244