High Court

High Court

The High Court hears more serious and complex criminal and civil cases. It also hears appeals from lower courts and tribunals. The civil jurisdiction accounts for approximately 60% of the court’s overall workload, and the criminal jurisdiction for around 40%. The High Court in Auckland deals with around 40% of the High Court’s overall workload.

Criminal jurisdiction

Jury Trials

The number of new jury trials (new business excluding retrials) has increased sharply over the past year, after having generally decreased since mid-2008. In 2012, the High Court received 232 new jury trials – a 33% increase on the 174 that were received in 2011, although slightly lower (6 less cases) than the 12 months ending 31 December 2010. This increase was due largely to an increase in the number of cases retained in the High Court where the charges related to ‘middleband’ offences ( see note 1 ).

The number of cases disposed has increased by 15% to 212 in the 12 months ending 31 December 2012 (up from 185 in 2011). This increase in disposals was largely due to an increase in guilty pleas before trial. In 2012 there were 66 guilty pleas before trial – a 78% increase on the 37 in 2011. The significant increase in guilty pleas before trial is in part a result of the introduction of sentence indication ( see note 2 ) hearings since March 2012.

There has been a 10% drop in the number of trials held, from 123 in 2011 to 113 in 2012. This decrease is partly the result of fewer jury trials committed to the High Court in the previous two years.

Jury trials are also taking longer to hear on average. This trend has been observed over the past four years. Since mid-2008, there has been a change in the mix of trials heard in the High Court due to Class A drugs cases being able to be heard in the District Court. A greater proportion of jury trials heard in the High Court are now complex cases or involve multiple accused. In 2012, the High Court heard a number of particularly long trials (30 days or more).

The median waiting time to trial from committal to the High Court (as at 31 December 2012) was 343 days, a decrease of 16 days from the same time in December 2011.

Criminal Appeals

New criminal appeals increased slightly over the last year: 1,175 new criminal appeals were filed in 2012, up from 1,164 in 2011. Over the same period disposals remained constant at 1,219. As at 31 December 2012 there were 212 active appeals, a 9% decrease from the end of 2011, when there were 233 active appeals.

Civil jurisdiction

Since mid-2010, there has been a declining trend in the number of civil cases filed in the High Court. However, the number of cases both filed and disposed in the court remains significantly higher than five years ago. Auckland accounts for 54% of all civil cases filed in 2012.

In the 12 months ending 31 December 2012:

• 2827 civil cases were filed, (compared to 2980 civil cases in 2011) a 5% decrease.
• 3047 civil cases were disposed, (compared to 3153 civil cases in 2011) a 3% decrease.

Although there has been a decrease in the overall number of civil cases disposed ( see note 3 ) in the last 12 months, there has been a 14% increase in the number of civil cases disposed by trial over the same period.

As at 31 December 2012 there were 2,319 active civil cases, (compared to 2516 at 31 December 2011) an 8% decrease. Of those active civil cases, as at 31 December 2012, 26% either had a fixture date set and were awaiting hearing, or were awaiting judgment. The remaining 74% were not yet capable of being readied for hearing.

General proceedings are most representative of a standard civil dispute brought to court. The median waiting time to trial for general proceedings (measured from the date the case was deemed ready for hearing to the future hearing date) as at 31 December 2012 was 292 days. Waiting time to trial for over 90% of short cause ( see note 4 ) general proceedings on hand is less than 12 months; and for over 90% of long cause ( see note 5 ) general proceedings on hand is less than 18 months.

There were 338 civil appeals ( see note 6 ) filed in the 12 months to 31 December 2012; this is a 3% decrease compared to 2011 (when 349 civil appeals were filed). As at 31 December 2012 there were 206 active civil appeals; a 7% increase compared to 31 December 2011 (when there were 192 active civil appeals).

The number of insolvency cases filed in the High Court has been declining since the start of 2011, after a significant increase in filings over several years that peaked in early 2009, as a result of the economic downturn. As at 31 December 2012 there were 715 active insolvency proceedings; a decrease of 10% compared to 31 December 2011, (when there were 798 active insolvency proceedings).

Statistics

* Notes on waiting times

Footnotes

Note 1: Legislation provides that for some offences there is jurisdiction to hear the trial in either the High Court or the District Court. These are called ‘middle band’ offences. A High Court Judge will make a decision to determine the appropriate court to hear the trial.

Note 2: A sentence indication is a statement by the Court that, if the defendant pleads guilty to a charge, the Court would be likely to impose a given sentence. It is given at the request of the defendant, before trial. Sentence indication hearings in the High Court have been introduced following codification of sentence indications in the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

Note 3: Cases can be disposed by a Judicial decision or the case being withdrawn.

Note 4: Short cause general proceedings have an estimated hearing time of 5 days or less.

Note 5: Long cause general proceedings have an estimated hearing time of more than 5 days.

Note 6: The High Court hears Civil Appeals from the District and Family Courts, as well as from some Tribunals