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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.

8 November 2024

Case information summary 2024 (as at 8 November 2024) –  Cases where leave granted (126 KB)
Case information summary 2024 (as at 8 November 2024)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 116 KB)

All years

Case name
John Kenneth Slavich v The Queen
Case number
SC 52/2009
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against conviction – Fraud – Summary Proceedings Act 1957 – Judicature Act 1908 – Parallel application for leave to appeal – Whether miscarriage of justice established – Whether evidence wrongly admitted – Whether trial counsel’s conduct inappropriate.CRI 2006–419–89  12 October 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
10 August 2009.
_______________________
The recall application is dismissed.
15 March 2016
______________________________________
The application for recall of this Court’s judgment of
16 April 2020 (Slavich v R [2020] NZSC 34) is dismissed.
21 June 2024
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
SLAVICH V R SC 52/2009 10 August 2009 (PDF, 13 KB)
Recall judgment
SLAVICH v R SC 52/2009 [13 September 2011] (PDF, 45 KB)
Recall judgment
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2016] NZSC 25 [15 March 2016] (PDF, 77 KB)
Supreme court decision
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2020] NZSC 34 [16 April 2020] (PDF, 149 KB)
Recall judgment
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2024] NZSC 72 [21 June 2024] (PDF, 194 KB)
Case name
John Kenneth Slavich v The Queen
Case number
SC 53/2009
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against conviction – Fraud – Admissibility of Evidence – Judicature Act 1908 – Whether miscarriage of justice established by way of Court of Appeal’s alleged failure to consider all points raised on appeal – Whether evidence wrongly admitted – Whether Court of Appeal exceeded its jurisdiction in its evaluation of the evidence.[2009] NZCA  188 CA 461/2007    15 May 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
10 August 2009
_________________________
The recall application is dismissed.
15 March 2016
_____________________________
The application for recall of this Court’s judgment of
16 April 2020 (Slavich v R [2020] NZSC 34) is dismissed.
21 June 2024
Recall judgment
SLAVICH v R SC 52/2009 [13 September 2011] (PDF, 45 KB)
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
SLAVICH V R SC 52/2009 10 August 2009 (PDF, 13 KB)
Recall judgment
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2016] NZSC 25 [15 March 2016] (PDF, 77 KB)
Supreme court decision
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2020] NZSC 34 [16 April 2020] (PDF, 149 KB)
Recall judgment
JOHN KENNETH SLAVICH v R [2024] NZSC 72 [21 June 2024] (PDF, 194 KB)
Case name
Paul Joseph Cameron  v The Queen
Case number
SC 54/2009
Summary
Criminal appeal – murder – whether statements made by the appellant were made in circumstances adversely affecting their reliability and ought to have been excluded – whether statements made by the appellant were influenced by oppression and ought to have been excluded – whether statements made by the appellant were improperly obtained and ought to have been excluded - whether the appellant’s conviction was a substantial miscarriage of justice[2009] NZCA 87  CA  568/2008   24 March 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 12 August 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
CAMERON V R SC 54/2009 12 August 2009
Case name
Benjamin Morland Easton v Broadcasting Commission and Broadcasting Standards Authority
Case number
SC 55/2009
Summary
Civil – Security for costs – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in requiring security for costs before hearing – Whether the Court of Appeal’s requirement for security of costs amounts to an unreasonable barrier to Court access and is discriminatory – Whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss allegedly “uncontested evidence”[2009] NZCA 252  CA  793/2008   17 June 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 August 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
EASTON V BROADCASTING COMMISSION AND ANOR SC 55/2009 5 August 2009
Case name
Luana Roberta Taylor v The Queen
Case number
SC 56/2009
Summary
Criminal – Admissibility of a statement – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing an application for leave to appeal a pre-trial ruling[2009] NZCA 228  CA  210/2009    2 June 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal refused. 1 July 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TAYLOR V R SC 56/2009 1 July 2009
Case name
Wyeth (NZ) Limited v Ancare New Zealand Limited and The Environmental Risk Management Authority
Case number
SC 57/2009
Summary
Civil Appeal - Statutory Interpretation - whether the Court of Appeal erred in interpreting the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996; whether the Act requires or entitles the Environmental Risk Management Authority to refuse to disclose the identity of a hazardous substance and/or its chemical composition; whether the Act allows the Environmental Risk Management Authority to require that the identity of a hazardous substance and/or its chemical composition be provided on the basis of confidentiality undertakings. [2009] NZCA 211  CA  424/2007    27 May 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
25 September 2009
______________________
The appeal is dismissed with no order for costs.
23 April 2010
Transcripts
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
WYETH (NZ) LIMITED v ANCARE NEW ZEALAND LIMITED AND ANOR SC 57/2009 [25 September 2009] (PDF, 12 KB)
Substantive judgment
WYETH (NZ) LIMITED v ANCARE NEW ZEALAND LIMITED AND ANOR SC 57/2009 [23 April 2010] (PDF, 178 KB)
Case name
Lipene Sila v The Queen
Case number
SC 58/2009
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against murder convictions – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the Trial Judge was correct to not allow self-defence to be put to the jury.[2009] NZCA 233  CA  404/2008    5 June  2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 10 August 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
SILA V R SC 58/2009 10 August 2009
Case name
Kane Wikio and Bunny Beckham v The Attorney-General
Case number
SC 59/2009
Summary
Civil Appeal – whether the Court of Appeal erred in failing to exercise its discretion under r 43(2) of the Court of Appeal (Civil) Rules 2005 to extend the time to file a Case on Appeal in circumstances where there was no realistic prospect that the appellants would be able to pursue their appeal after their counsel advised he would not proceed on a pro bono basis and where the appellants had already had the benefit of being represented in a full merits appeal.[2009] NZCA 221  CA  486/2008    2 June  2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 23 July 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WIKIO AND ANOR V THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL SC 59/2009 23 July 2009 (PDF, 13 KB)
Case name
Ngati Rangi Trust and others v Genesis Power Limited and Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council
Case number
SC 60/2009
Summary
Civil – Grant of resource consents – Whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to determine that the Environment Court had incorrectly directed itself as to the statutory purpose of the Resource Management Act 1991 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to address who was burdened by an evidential onus to demonstrate appropriate measures to mitigate the adverse effects of a proposal.[2009] NZCA 222  CA  518/2007    2 June  2009
Result
Notice of Abandonment being lodged, the application for leave to appeal is deemed to be dismissed. 21 December 2010
Case name
Talbot 2002 Underwriting Capital Limited v Maintenance Technology and Engineering Limited
Case number
SC 61/2009
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing the applicant’s application for a priority fixture and/or for a stay pending determination of the appeal on the grounds of bias on the part of a Judge who has embarked upon the hearing of a case to which the appellant is a party in the High Court.CA  327/2009    16 June  2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. Costs $2,500 to respondent. 14 July 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TALBOT 2002 UNDERWRITING CAPITAL LIMITED V MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING LIMITED SC 61/2009 14 July 2009
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