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
10 May 2019
27 March 2019
Winkelmann CJ, William Young, Glazebrook, O'Regan and Ellen France JJ
28 February 2019
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the conviction appeals.
21 March 2019
_________________________
A The application to cross-examine the foreperson is dismissed.
B The appeals are dismissed.
C Existing suppression orders in respect of the minutes issued in relation to this matter remain in place but are varied to continue until further order of this Court.
19 November 2019
- Hearing date 20 June 2019 (PDF, 197 KB)
- Hearing date 13 November 2019 (PDF, 126 KB)
- MR [2019] NZSC 129 (PDF, 65 KB)
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the conviction appeals.
21 March 2019
____________________
A The application to cross-examine the foreperson is dismissed.
B The appeals are dismissed.
C Existing suppression orders in respect of the minutes issued in relation to this matter remain in place but are varied to continue until further order of this Court.
19 November 2019
- Hearing date 20 June 2019 (PDF, 197 KB)
- Hearing date 13 November 2019 (PDF, 126 KB)
- MR [2019] NZSC 129 (PDF, 65 KB)
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal erred in determining that the evidence obtained pursuant to the production order of 4 August 2016 and pursuant to the execution of the search warrant on 1 November 2016 was inadmissible at the trial.
C Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.
4 April 2019
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A The appeal is dismissed.
B We make an order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.
5 March 2020
23 July 2019
Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O'Regan, Ellen France and Williams JJ
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the admissibility of the proposed evidence of the witnesses F and W.
C Leave to appeal against sentence is declined.
27 June 2019
__________________________________________________
The appeal is dismissed.
14 September 2020
- MR [2020] NZSC 94 (PDF, 76 KB)
3 October 2019
Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O'Regan, Ellen France, and Williams JJ
B The approved ground of appeal is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to allow the appeal.
21 June 2019
___________________________________________________________
A The appeal is allowed.
B The High Court orders outlined at [4(a)], (b) and (c) of this Court’s judgment are restored.
C The respondents must pay the appellants costs of $25,000 plus usual disbursements. Costs in the Courts below are to be determined in accordance with this judgment.
24 September 2020
- MR [2020] NZSC 100 (PDF, 74 KB)
Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O'Regan, Ellen France and Williams JJ
recalled and reissued with the applicant’s name anonymised.
9 February 2021
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A The application for leave to appeal against an order that the applicant be placed on the Child Sex Offender Register is granted ([2019] NZCA 30).
B The approved question is whether and, if so, how the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 has to be taken into account in decisions under s 9 of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016.
21 June 2019
Reissued 9 February 2021
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A The application to adduce further evidence is granted.
B The appeal is allowed.
C The registration order made by the District Court under s 9(1) of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 is quashed.
9 February 2021
- Hearing date 30 October 2019 (PDF, 416 KB)
- MR 2021 NZSC 2 (PDF, 197 KB)
B The approved ground of appeal is whether the Court of Appeal correctly interpreted s 68(2) of the Trade Marks Act 2002.
9 July 2019
__________________________________________________
A The appeal is dismissed.
B The appellant must pay the respondent costs of $10,000 plus usual disbursements.
15 October 2020
- Hearing date 20 February 2020 (PDF, 362 KB)
- MR [2020] NZSC 110 (PDF, 261 KB)
20 February 2020
Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O’Regan, Ellen France and Williams JJ