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.

31 July 2026

Case information summary (as at 31 July 2026) –  Cases where leave granted (PDF, 87 KB)
Case information summary (as at 31 July 2026)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 131 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
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
OH v The Queen
Case number
SC 125/2010
Summary
Criminal – Summary Proceedings Act 1957 – validity and scope of search warrants – whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the validity of search warrants issued under s 198 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957; whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that s 198 of the Summary Proceedings Act can be used to authorise surveillance on private land – New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – unreasonable search and seizure – whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the police in this case did not breach s 21 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – Evidence Act 2006 – admissibility of evidence – whether the Court of Appeal erred in its undertaking of the s 30 balancing exercise and in concluding that the evidence in dispute was admissible at trial[2010] NZCA 528  CA 825/2009  19 November 2010
Result
The appeal allowed in part.  The video surveillance evidence (other than footage of vehicles on Reid Road) is inadmissible against those appellants.  All the other disputed evidence is admissible against them. 2 September 2011.
Leave judgment - leave granted
HAMED and OTHERS v R SC 125/2010 and Others [24 March 2011] (PDF, 84 KB)
Substantive judgment
HAMED v R SC 125/2010 [2 September 2011] (PDF, 551 KB)
Dates

The application for leave to appeal is granted.

The approved grounds are whether the challenged evidence was lawfully obtained under s 198 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 or was, alternatively, properly admissible pursuant to s 30 of the Evidence Act 2006.

25 March 2011
Hearing

3 and 4 May 2011

Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath, Gault JJ.
Case name
Christopher Ian Freakley v The Queen
Case number
SC 126/2010
Summary
Criminal Appeal – appeal against sentence – whether the sentencing judge should have taken into account the fact the applicant was found not guilty on a count of aggravated robbery.[2010] NZCA 497  CA 26/2010  29 October  2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
FREAKLEY v R SC 126/2010 [7 March 2011] (PDF, 45 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

7 March 2011.
Case name
Karen McGrath v Accident Compensation Corporation
Case number
SC 127/2010
Summary
Civil – Accident Compensation Act 2001 – Whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that the ACC had a reasonable basis under s 110(3) Accident Compensation Act to require the Applicant to undergo a vocational independence assessment.[2010] NZCA 535  CA 302/2009  19 November  2010
Result
A  The application for leave to appeal is granted.
B  The approved ground is whether the Court of Appeal in [2010] NZCA 535 has correctly interpreted and applied s 110(3) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001.
 8 March 2011
___________________
A The appeal is allowed and the notice given on 9 September 2008 by the Accident Compensation Corporation is quashed.
B Costs are reserved.  Counsel may file memoranda if necessary.
7 July 2011
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
MCGRATH v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION SC 127/2010 [8 March 2011] (PDF, 7 KB)
Substantive judgment
McGRATH v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION SC 127/2010 [7 July 2011] (PDF, 145 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 2 June 2011

Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath, William Young J.
Page 211 of 264