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
NZ Maori Council and The Federation of Maori Authorities Inc v Attorney-General and others
Case number
SC 50/2007
Summary
Civil – Treaty of Waitangi – Crown Forest Assets Act 1989 – Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Settlement Deed, Part 12 – Settlement Deed aimed to settle historical breaches of Treaty in respect of 11 iwi or hapu affiliated with Te Arawa – Settlement Deed would be made unconditional by proposed legislation – Applicants sought declaration that Settlement Deed was in breach of Crown Forest Assets Act 1989, the agreements predating that Act, and the Crown’s fiduciary duties under the Treaty – High Court and Court of Appeal dismissed the claims. Whether the issues are justiciable – whether the agreement predating the 1989 Act (“the July 1989 Agreement” ) was a political compact and therefore unenforceable – whether Crown conduct is or was inconsistent with the July 1989 Agreement – the nature of the Crown’s fiduciary duty to Mäori under the Treaty and the July 1989 Agreement. CA 241/07; CA 247/07 2 July 2007
Leave judgment - leave granted
Judgment appealed from
Grant to intervene
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
8 November 2007
__________________
Appeal withdrawn. No orders as to costs.
4 November 2008
Case name
George Charlie Baker v The Queen
Case number
SC 51/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – Sentencing Act 2002 – whether trial judge correctly applied s 104 in light of mitigating factor of appellant’s guilty plea – whether high publicity surrounding case lead to an unduly harsh sentence – whether trial judge gave sufficient weight to appellant’ s psychiatric history. CA 36/07 5 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
19 September 2007
19 September 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BAKER V R SC 51/2007 [19 September 2007] (PDF, 14 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Alex Kwong Wong v The Queen
Case number
SC 53/2007
Summary
Summary Criminal – appeal against convictions – serious drug offending – whether trial should have proceeded with ten jurors – consistency of guilty verdicts with acquittal of the accused on other counts and acquittal of co-accused – whether Court of Appeal correctly applied R v H [2000] 2 NZLR 581 – whether verdict in relation to one (money laundering) count is unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence – applicant seeking leave to raise various other new grounds as evidencing a substantial miscarriage of justice at trial.CA 329/06 6 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
24 September 2007
________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions set aside. New trial ordered.
18 April 2008
24 September 2007
________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions set aside. New trial ordered.
18 April 2008
Substantive judgment
ALEX KWONG WONG v R SC 53/2007 [18 April 2008] (PDF, 26 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Application for rehearing or addition of new ground of appeal
Substantive judgment
Transcript
Case name
Mustafa Can v The Queen
Case number
SC 54/2007
Summary
Criminal – sexual violation – s 128 Crimes Act 1961 – whether the jury direction on the applicant’s reasonable belief in consent, based on the test in R v Gutuama (Court of Appeal, CA 275/01, 13 December 2001), was in conflict with the statutory language in s 128 Crimes Act 1961 – whether expert evidence as to the intellectual limitations of the complainant was wrongly admitted.CA 492/05 16 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 27 November 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MUSTAFA CAN v R SC 54/2007 [27 November 2007] (PDF, 19 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Transpower New Zealand Limited v Todd Energy Limited
Case number
SC 55/2007
Summary
Civil Appeal – whether summary judgment should have been issued for the defendant – whether some or all of the actions against the applicant should be struck out – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that section 19 of the Electricity Amendment Act 2001 did not amount to an authorisation under section 43 of the Commerce Act 1986 – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that long term infrastructure substitution between embedded generation and transmission is arguably contemplated by the Commerce Act 1986 definition of “market” – whether the respondent’s claim is a complaint that the applicant charges too much – whether such a complaint is capable of amounting to a breach of Part 2 of the Commerce Act 1986 – whether the Court of Appeal applied a more demanding standard for summary judgment – whether the Court of Appeal erred by finding that the respondent can choose between local and national electricity markets when presenting its case at trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred by allowing the argument that the respondent’s local electricity generation competes with the applicant’s transmission services to go to trial when that argument was struck out in another case – whether a claim that the applicant’ s “tying” or ”unbundling” of services has the purpose or likely effect of substantially lessening competition should go to trial where the services were not able to be tied or bundled and the claim is in substance a claim about overcharging. CA 80/05 and CA 177/06 20 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal and cross appeal dismissed. 13 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Michael Raymond Main v Kevin Evan Main
Case number
SC 56/2007
Summary
Civil appeal – Residential Tenancies Act 1986, s 2(3) – whether the Court of Appeal was correct in holding that the respondent had proved that the premises were let principally for purposes other than residential purposes – whether the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to make s 2(3) finding – whether the respondent had complied with the Court of Appeal’ s order as to the filing of additional evidence – whether the Court of Appeal failed to take into account evidence filed.CA 25/07 23 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. Costs $2,500 to respondent. 8 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MAIN v MAIN SC 56/2007 [8 October 2007] (PDF, 13 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Mark Raymond Creedy v Commissioner of Police
Case number
SC 57/2007
Summary
Summary Civil appeal – employment law – police officer dismissed after a tribunal established under s 12 of the Police Act 1958 found him guilty of a number of misconduct charges – personal grievance proceedings commenced in Employment Relations Authority – whether Court of Appeal erred in finding that unjustifiable dismissal claim was out of time – whether there are “exceptional circumstances” for the purposes of ss 114(4) and 115 of Employment Relations Act 2000 – application of Wilkins & Field Ltd v Fortune [1998] 2 ERNZ 70 – whether Court of Appeal erred in finding that the actions of the s 12 tribunal could not be attributed to the Commissioner of Police and thus are not open to review in personal grievance proceedings.CA 234/06 24 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
19 October 2007
_________________________
Appeal dismissed. No order for costs.
23 April 2008
19 October 2007
_________________________
Appeal dismissed. No order for costs.
23 April 2008
Transcripts
- Hearing date 10 March 2008 (PDF, 311 KB)
Media Releases
- mediarelease sc572007 000 (PDF, 78 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
Court of Appeal decision
Supreme court decision
Case name
Neil Martin Clarke v New Zealand Police and Others
Case number
SC 58/2007
Summary
y Civil – application to review Registrar’s decision to refuse to accept application for filing – applicant had sought leave to appeal Court of Appeal’s decision that it had no jurisdiction to grant special leave to appeal against a costs decision of an Associate Judge of the High Court – applicant seeking to overturn costs decision in the Court of Appeal.[2007] NZCA 294 CA 226/06 17 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed with costs of $1,500 to the second respondent. 9 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Glenharrow Holdings Limited v Commissioner of Inland Revenue
Case number
SC 59/2007
Summary
Civil appeal – avoidance of GST under section 76 of Goods and Services Tax Act 1985 – whether the High Court erred in its findings of fact relating to the value of the mining license purchased by the applicant - whether the High Court erred when it concluded that the purchase price for the mining license was grossly inflated – whether the evidence was such that only one conclusion was reasonably open to the Court – whether a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred as a result of incorrect findings of fact – whether, given the High Court finding that the transaction was a genuine arms length agreement, there was a basis for a finding under section 76 that the transaction defeated the scheme and purposes of the Act– whether an open market value should be used when determining GST obligations where a transaction is genuine and at arms length – whether the Court of Appeal erred by conflating the value of a loan used to purchase an asset with the consideration paid – whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to determining the total consideration – whether it was open to the Court of Appeal to make a finding that the loan repayments amounted to an ‘ empty obligation’ – whether the Court of Appeal erred in its application of Peterson v CIR [2006] 3 NZLR 433CA 192/05 15 August 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted. 4 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment / Media release
Judgment appealed from
Transcript
Hearing date : 8 – 10 July 2008
Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath , Anderson JJ
Case name
Shahram Aram v The Queen
Case number
SC 60/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – convicted of five drug offences –whether substantial miscarriage of justice may have occurred – fresh evidence of corruption, conspiracy and perjury – seeking order quashing conviction and sentence or, alternatively, order for retrial. CA 407/06 2 August 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
4 December 2007
4 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ARAM V R SC 60/2007 [4 December 2007] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from
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