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.
19 June 2026
Case information summary (as at 19 June 2026) – Cases where leave granted (PDF, 89 KB)
Case information summary (as at 19 June 2026) – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 126 KB)
All years
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondents one set of costs of $2,500.
23 July 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The applications for leave to appeal are dismissed.
B Costs are reserved.
3 October 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondents one set of costs of $2,500.
1 August 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring civil appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondent costs of $1,500.
25 August 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondent costs of $2,500.
4 August 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to appeal
A The application for leave to file reply submissions is dismissed.
B The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
C The applicants must pay the respondent one set of costs of $2,500.
10 September 2025
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to appeal
A notice of abandonment having been filed, the application for leave to appeal is abandoned 26 September 2025
Civil appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted in part (Estate of Ruru v Attorney- General [2025] NZCA 597).
B The approved questions are:
(a) whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to the requirements for resumption in s 8HB of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975; and
(b) whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to the Waitangi Tribunal’s discretion to award compensation under sch 1 of the Crown Forest Assets Act 1989.
C The application for leave to appeal is otherwise dismissed.
10 June 2026
19 March 2024
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct in the answers the Court gave to the questions of law before the Court.
9 May 2024__________________________________________________________________A We answer the questions of law as follows: copyrights are property for purposes of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 and they may be relationship property.
B The appeal is dismissed. We direct that the proceeding be remitted to the Family Court to decide the value and distribution or sale of the artworks and copyrights in them.
C The appellant must pay the respondent costs of $15,000 plus usual disbursements. We allow for second counsel.
6 March 2025
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 Appellant Submissions (PDF, 435 KB)
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 Respondent Submissions (PDF, 378 KB)
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 Appellant oral outline (PDF, 249 KB)
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 Respondent oral outline (PDF, 143 KB)
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 (PDF, 546 KB)
- Hearing date 24 October 2024 Case Synopsis (PDF, 318 KB)
- MR [2025] NZSC 9 (PDF, 438 KB)
- SC 22/2024 Sirpa Elise Alalääkkölä v Paul Anthony Palmer (Recorded, 24 October 2024)