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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
Kimberly Birkenfeld v Anthony Bruce Kendall and Yachting New Zealand Incorporated
Case number
SC 17/2010
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the High Court (Access to Court Documents) Amendment Rules 2009 and the Court of Appeal (Access to Court Documents) Rules 2009 are valid; whether the application of those Rules had a prejudicial effect on the preparation of the appellant’s case. [2009] NZCA 619 CA 793/2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BIRKENFELD v KENDALL AND ANOR SC 17/2010 [21 April 2010] (PDF, 42 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed. No order for costs.

21 April 2010.
Case name
Ai Nee Chean v Herald Victor De Alwis and others
Case number
SC 18/2010
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether summary judgment in High Court against Appellant in relation to sixth Respondent should be overturned – Whether Court of Appeal erred in affirming issue estoppel in respect of an original default judgment under s 37 Securities Act 1978 – Whether Court of Appeal misapplied the doctrine of issue estoppel by applying it to a default judgment, or holding that Appellant was a privy, or wrongly finding that the original Judge was not misled on facts, or failing to consider equitable doctrine of “clean hands” – Whether issue estoppel contrary to the NZ Bill of Rights Act.[2010] NZCA 30  CA 458/2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
CHEAN v DE ALWIS And Ors SC 18/2010 [18 May 2010] (PDF, 16 KB)
Dates

Application for leave dismissed.

Costs $2,500 to the sixth respondent.

18 May 2010.
Case name
Jamie Ronaki Kissling v The Queen       
Case number
SC 19/2010
Summary
Criminal – Production and possession of methamphetamine – Lack of evidence – Whether the Court of Appeal, having quashed the charge of manufacturing methamphetamine for want of evidence, erred in refusing to quash the charges relating to possession of precursor equipment and methamphetamine[2009] NZCA 289   CA 5/2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
KISSLING v R SC 19/2010 [9 June 2010] (PDF, 34 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

9 June 2010.
Case name
Cyndi Marcia Fairburn v The Queen
Case number
SC 20/2010
Summary
Criminal – Murder – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in law by refusing to allow fresh evidence from expert witnesses[2010] NZCA 44   CA 169/2009
Result
 

Further evidence is admitted.

The appeal is allowed and the conviction is quashed.

A new trial is ordered.

17 December 2010.
Hearing

29 and 30 November 2010.

Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath, William Young JJ
Dates

The application for leave to appeal is granted

The approved ground is whether, in the light of the further evidence tendered in this Court and in the Court of Appeal, there has been a miscarriage of justice

18 June 2010
Case name
Daniel Thomas Spencer Riddiford and Yvonne Ada Riddiford an d another v Her Majesty’s Attorney-General
Case number
SC 21/2010
Summary
Civil – application for special leave to appeal High Court decision relating to a claim for compensation in respect of the acquisition of an esplanade reserve – Whether the High Court erred in not reversing an order of the Land Valuation Tribunal awarding costs against the applicant – Whether the High Court erred in declining to allow a rehearing – whether the High Court and the Tribunal erred in their determination of a number of other related mattersCiv 2006 485 833 – 22 May 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
RIDDIFORD And Anor v ATTORNEY-GENERAL SC 21/2010 [25 May 2010] (PDF, 10 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

Costs $2.500 to the respondent.

26 May 2010.
Case name
William Patrick Jeffries v The Attorney-General
Case number
SC 22/2010
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal failed to give effect to the criteria for consent to overseas investment as set out in s 14A of the Overseas Investment Act 1973; Whether the “standard conditions” for granting consent imposes a continuing obligation on consent-holders to carry out the proposals they made to the Minister in order to secure such consent; Whether releasing information supplied by the appellant pursuant to s 6(c) of the Official Information Act 1982 would prejudice the maintenance of the law or would breach the appellant’s confidence.[2010] NZCA 38  CA 338/2008  26 February 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
RIDDIFORD And Anor v ATTORNEY-GENERAL SC 21/2010 [25 May 2010] (PDF, 10 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

Costs $2.500 to the respondent.

26 May 2010.
Case name
Jonathan Ian Blake v The Queen
Case number
SC 23/2010
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether Court of Appeal erred in dismissing appeal against conviction – Whether erroneous legal advice given to Appellant by trial counsel on possible admissibility of previous convictions in cross-examination had a material influence on his decision not to give evidence at trial.  [2010] NZCA 61  CA 278/2009  11 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BLAKE v R SC 23/2010 [16 June 2010] (PDF, 47 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

22 June 2010.
Case name
Trent Grant Holmes v The Queen
Case number
SC 24/2010
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Appeal against sentence for aggravated robbery and injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm - Whether the Court of Appeal failed to take into account certain mitigating factors.[2010] NZCA 47  CA 723/2009  2 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
HOLMES v R SC 24/2010 [9 June 2010] (PDF, 13 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

9 June 2010.
Case name
Churchill Group Holdings Limited and others v Aral Property Holdings Limited and David Leung
Case number
SC 25/2010
Summary
Civil – Stay of execution of judgment for costs pending appeal – Whether Court of Appeal erred in finding that the abrupt end to the proceedings was not the fault of the respondents – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the proposed method of payment for the original litigation and security for costs was unknown – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that that Mr Fava was unlikely to regain control of two of the appellant companies – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding the appellants had no realistic prospect of success – Whether the Court of Appeal failed to address one of the grounds of appeal.[2010] NZCA 88  CA 80/2010   23 March 2010
Dates

Notice of Abandoment of Appeal being lodged, the application is deemed to be dismissed.

25 May 2010.
Case name
Brett Stephen Taylor v The Queen
Case number
SC 26/2010
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Unlawful sexual connection – whether the trial Judge erred in his failure to give directions in relation to the unreliability of the complainant’s evidence pursuant to s 122 of the Evidence Act 2006 – whether the inadequacy of the trial Judge’s directions regarding prejudice caused a substantial miscarriage of justice – whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing to admit new expert evidence on appeal[2010] NZCA 69  CA 147/2009   16 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TAYLOR v R SC 26/2010 [20 July 2010] (PDF, 45 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

20 July 2010.
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