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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
Dean McArthur Keown  v The Queen
Case number
SC 115/2010
Summary
Criminal – Sentencing appeal – Whether the discount in sentence for Mr Keown’s time spent on electronically monitored bail was appropriately given by the Court of Appeal in accordance with sentencing principles.[2010] NZCA 492  CA 401/2010   29  October 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
KEOWN v R SC 115/2010 [16 February 2011] (PDF, 39 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

16 February 2011
Case name
Vincent Ross Siemer v The Solicitor-General
Case number
SC 116/2010
Summary
Civil Appeal – costs – whether costs should have been awarded against the applicant when the respondent discontinued contempt of court proceedings – whether the Judge was biased.[2010] NZCA 549  CA 126/2010   23 November  2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
SIEMER v THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL SC 116/2010 [7 February 2011] (PDF, 13 KB)
Recall judgment
SIEMER v THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL SC 116/2010 [1 April 2011] (PDF, 76 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

Costs $2500 to the respondent.

7 February 2010.

Application for recall dismissed.

1 April 2011.
Case name
Azeeez Mahomed v The Queen
Case number
SC 117/2010
Summary
Criminal – Murder – Whether Court of Appeal erred in pre-trial ruling admitting certain propensity/narrative evidence against the applicant – Whether Court of Appeal in dismissing appeal erred in concluding trial Judge not required to give specific directions on propensity evidence at trial – Whether evidence of applicant’s low intellectual capacity and wife’s post-natal depression should have been admitted at trial – Whether trial Judge was entitled to comment on applicant’s decision not to give evidence – Whether new evidence of accident purportedly explaining daughter’s injuries should be admitted.[2010] NZCA 419 CA 779/2009 14 September  2010.
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted,
The approved grounds are:
(i)         Whether the evidence concerning the child’s being left in the car on 19 December 2007 was admissible; and
(ii)         If so, whether the Judge’s directions relating to that evidence were adequate.  
8 February 2011
__________________________
Appeal dismissed.
19 May 2011
Media Releases
Substantive judgment
MAHOMED v R SC 97/2010, SC 117/2010 [19 May 2011] (PDF, 321 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 17 February 2011

Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath, William Young JJ.
Case name
Wing Hung Printing Company Limited and others v Saito Offshore Pty Ltd
Case number
SC 118/2010
Summary
Civil – Conflict of laws – Whether New Zealand is the appropriate forum for trial of the dispute – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its calculus of the issues relevant to the appropriate forum choice – Whether the Court of Appeal had an evidential foundation for finding the business relationship was ‘predominately Australasian’ – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in extending the extraterritorial effect of the Fair Trading Act 1986 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in the exercise of its discretion to dismiss a protest to jurisdiction on terms.[2010] NZCA 502  CA 437/2009   5 November  2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WING HUNG PRINTING COMPANY LIMITED v SAITO OFFSHORE PTY LIMITED SC SC 118/2010 [15 March 2011] (PDF, 11 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed with costs of  $2,500 and reasonable disbursements to the respondent.

15 March  2011.
Case name
Graham Ashley Robert Palmer v The Queen
Case number
SC 119/2010
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against conviction for dishonest use of a GST return – whether the conduct of the  investigation and criminal prosecution of the applicant was in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, s 30 of the Sentencing Act 2002 and the Judges’ Rules – whether the trial Judge misdirected the jury as to the identity of a witness – whether the trial Judge erred in his summing up to the jury  – whether the Court of Appeal erred in failing to take into account evidence produced by the applicant as to the value of goods – whether there has been error in the calculation of the period for which the applicant is subject to release conditions following his sentence of imprisonment[2010] NZCA 53  CA 349/2009    5 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PALMER v R SC 119/2010 [22 March 201 (PDF, 39 KB)
Hearing
Dates
Case name
Fan Li v The Queen
Case number
SC 120/2010
Summary
[2009] NZCA 445  CA 38/2009   30 September 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
FAN v R SC 120/2010 [5 April 2011] (PDF, 45 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

5 April 2011.
Case name
Weruma Mohi Walker v The Queen
Case number
SC 121/2010
Summary
Criminal Appeal – appeal against sentence –guilty plea to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of unlawful detention – whether sentence is manifestly excessive.[2010] NZCA 534  CA 336/2010   19 November 2010 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WALKER v R SC 121/2010 [9 March 2011] (PDF, 49 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

9 March 2011.
Case name
Keith Allenby v Terri Hannan and Middlemore Hospital of Counties Manukau District Health Board
Case number
SC 122/2010
Summary
Civil – Negligence – Accident Compensation Act 2001 – Application for pre-trial ruling– Whether unwanted pregnancy occasioned by failure of doctor to adequately perform sterilisation (tubal ligation) procedure covered by s 20(2)(b) of Accident Compensation Act as personal injury caused by medical misadventure – Whether application for pre-trial ruling can be the subject of “leapfrog” appeal to Supreme Court without prior judgments of High Court or Court of Appeal.[Civ 2010 404 3260  Priestley J  31 August 2010
Dates
Notice of Abandonment being lodged, the application is deemed to be dismissed.
Case name
Henry David Levin and Barry Philip Jordan v Patrick Ikiua, Kenti Apa, Tess Apa, Mark Crosbie, Andrew David Smith.
Case number
SC 123/2010
Summary
Civil – Liquidators’ right under s 298 of the Companies Act 1993 to recover property which a liquidated company has disposed of to certain entities – Whether the company must have had a proprietary interest in the property – Whether s 298 applies only to transactions where the directors are duty bound to obtain fair value in return for the disposition of property – Whether the company had legitimately transferred its assets – Whether the directors of the company had breached their duties by disposing of all profits.[2010] NZCA 509 CA 508/2009  12 November 2010
Dates
Notice of Abandonment being lodged, the application is deemed to be dismissed.
Case name
Saxmere Company Limited v Wool Board Disestablishment Company Limited
Case number
SC 124/2010
Summary
[2010] NZCA 513 CA 784/2009  17 November 2010
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed with costs to the respondent of $2,500.

9 March 2011.
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