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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.

27 September 2024

Case information summary 2024 (as at 27 September 2024) –  Cases where leave granted (127 KB)
Case information summary 2024 (as at 27 September 2024)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 120 KB)

All years

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
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
K v R [2014] NZSC 10 [20 February 2014] (PDF, 63 KB)
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
Case name
MH v The Queen
Case number
SC 116/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Evidence Act s 30 – pre-trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred in admitting evidence under s 30 of the Evidence Act.[2013] NZCA 432   CA 228/2013
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
Francis Thomas Dooley v Raymond Bruce Smith and Mohammed Shahadat
Case number
SC 117/2013
Summary
[2013] NZCA 428   CA 233/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
FRANCIS THOMAS DOOLEY v RAYMOND BRUCE SMITH [2013] NZSC 155 [20 December 2013] (PDF, 48 KB)
Dates

The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

Costs of $2,500 plus usual disbursements (to be set by the Registrar if necessary) are awarded to the first respondent.

20 December 2013. 

Case name
Jennings Roadfreight Limited (in liquidation) and Boris van Delden and Roy Horrocks as liquidators v Commissioner of Inland Revenue
Case number
SC 118/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal – Tax Administration Act 1994 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in deciding that the trust created by s 167(1) of the Tax Administration Act 1994 did not come to an end upon liquidation.[2013] NZCA 455  CA 432/2012
Result
Leave to appeal is granted.
The approved ground for appeal is whether:
(a) the trust arising under s 167(1) of the Tax Administration Act 1994 continues in existence upon the liquidation of a company, in respect of funds held in the company’s account; or
(b) the trust is extinguished upon the liquidation, so that the funds held are dealt with in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Companies Act 1993.
14 February 2014
_________________
The appeal is allowed.  The respondent must repay $14,076.38 to the appellants.
Costs of $25,000 plus reasonable disbursements (to be set by the Registrar if necessary) are awarded to the appellants.
7 November 2014
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
JENNINGS ROADFREIGHT LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION) v COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2014] NZSC 2 [14 February 2014] (PDF, 34 KB)
Substantive judgment
JENNINGS ROADFREIGHT LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION) v COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2014] NZSC 160 [7 November 2014 (PDF, 209 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 10 June 2014

Elias CJ, McGrath, William Young, Glazebrook, Arnold JJ.
Case name
Ross Dallimore v The Queen
Case number
SC 119/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Appeal against sentence – Undischarged bankrupt carrying on management of a business – Insolvency Act 2006, ss 149(1)(a) and 436(1)(b) – Whether Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that the sentence was not manifestly excessive given that the applicant was allegedly not involved in financial management of the business.[2012] NZCA 437  CA 199/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ROSS DALLIMORE v R [2014] NZSC 25 [25 March 2014] (PDF, 12 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

25 March 2014.
Case name
University of Canterbury v The Insurance Council of New Zealand, Christchurch City Council, Body Corporate 423446 (Oxford Body Corporate)
Case number
SC 120/2013
Summary
Civil Appeal – Building – Building Act 2004 – Local Government – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the High Court’ s declaration that the Christchurch City Council could not require earthquake-strengthening of existing buildings to a capacity of up to 67 per cent of the current building code requirements – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the Christchurch City Council was not given the power to require remediation work beyond 34 per cent of the new building standard. [2013}NZCA 471  CA 127/2013
Result
The application for leave to appeal is granted on the following question: Where a building is an earthquake-prone building in terms of s 122(1) of the Building Act 2004, is a council entitled under s 124(1)(c)(i) of the Act to require the building to be strengthened to an extent greater than is necessary to ensure that the building will not have its ultimate capacity exceeded in a moderate earthquake (as defined in reg 7 of the Building (Specified Systems, Change the Use and Earthquake-prone Buildings) Regulations 2005)? 26 February 2014
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY v THE INSURANCE COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND INCORPORATED [2014] NZSC 13 [26 February 2014] (PDF, 7 KB)
Supreme court decision
UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY v THE INSURANCE COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND INCORPORATED [2014] NZSC 193 [22 December 2014] (PDF, 175 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 11 November 2014

McGrath, Glazebrook, Arnold, O’Regan,  Blanchard  JJ.
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