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
Case name
Shaun Antony King v The Queen
Case number
SC 18/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal by way of case stated – Juries Act 1981 – applicant challenges the legality and fairness of jury-vetting, under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Privacy Act 1993 and the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 – whether controls should operate over prosecution use of information including, but not limited to, the criminal history of a potential jury member – whether disclosure by the prosecution to the defence should be required in relation to such information.[2008] NZCA 79 CA 207/2007 10 April 2008
Leave judgment - leave granted
GORDON-SMITH v R SC 32/2008 [25 July 2008] (PDF, 48 KB)
Transcript
Case name
Allen Louis Harriman v The Queen
Case number
SC 28/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding various photographs, and expert evidence about the use of drug terminology, admissible – whether the Judge’ s ‘expert evidence’ direction to the jury was incomplete, because it did not cover the evidence of a defence witness – whether the Judge failed to direct the jury adequately on the effect of the applicant’ s partial guilty plea – whether the sentence was manifestly excessive – application for leave to appeal out of time.[2008] NZCA 53 CA 109/07 11 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
HARRIMAN v R SC 28/2008 [7 August 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
7 August 2008
Case name
Alisdair Bruce Aylwin v New Zealand Police
Case number
SC 33/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal by way of case stated – whether, on a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol, evidence must be given by the prosecution as to the manner in which the breath screening and/or evidential breath tests were carried out – whether the principle of omnia praesumuntur operates to place an evidentiary burden on the defence to raise this question.[2008] NZCA 154 CA 227/07 6 June 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
29 July 2008
__________________________
Appeal dismissed.
19 December 2008
29 July 2008
__________________________
Appeal dismissed.
19 December 2008
Transcripts
- Hearing date 2 December 2008 (PDF, 186 KB)
Media Releases
- sc 33 2008 aylwin v new zealandpolice (PDF, 87 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
AYLWIN v R SC 33/2008 [29 July 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Substantive judgment
Case name
Matthew BROWN V The Queen
Case number
SC 41/2008
Summary
Criminal Appeal – appeal against conviction for injuring with intent – whether applicant had adequate counsel in the Court of Appeal – whether Court of Appeal counsel provided correct advice in relation to waiver of solicitor-client privilege – whether Court of Appeal counsel should have called medical evidence – whether Court of Appeal counsel followed applicant’s instructions in relation to witness subpoenas and cross-examination – whether evidence provided in the Court of Appeal was accurate – whether applicant had adequate counsel at District Court – whether District Court counsel should have called other witnesses – whether District Court counsel should have objected to complainant’s testimony – whether Judge’s summing up was effected by defence provided[2008] NZCA 156 CA 392/07 9 June 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BROWN v R SC 41/2008 [10 October 2008] (PDF, 15 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
10 October 2008.
Case name
Tareq Abdel Rahim Zaiton v The Queen
Case number
SC 43/2008
Summary
Criminal appeal – whether a miscarriage of justice has occurred under s 385(1)(c) of the Crimes Act 1961 – at a previous trial, the complainant had made identifications relating to one charge – the prosecution did not disclose the identifications to the defence until the second trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that no miscarriage resulted from the Crown’s failure to disclose the information until that point.[2008] NZCA 189 CA 368/07 26 June 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ZAITON V R SC 43/2008 [20 October 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
20 October 2008.
Case name
APN New Zealand Limited v Simunovich Fisheries Limited and others
Case number
SC 69/2008
Summary
Civil – Defamation – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the obligation in s 38 of the Defamation Act 1992 applies to the pleading of a stand alone defence of truth – whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to find that the “repetition rule” and the “ conduct rule” apply to pleadings of truth - whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the change in approach to admissibility of hearsay evidence in the Evidence Act 2006 does not affect the applicability of the “repetition rule” to a pleading of truth – was the Court of Appeal wrong to hold that it is not open to a defendant to plead the opinions and statements of third parties in support of a truth defence, or in support of an honest opinion defence.[2008] NZCA 350 CA 447/07 CA 584/07 8 September 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted
1 December 2008
________________________
Appeal dismissed. Costs $15,000 to the respondent jointly with one half of their disbursements.
26 August 2009
1 December 2008
________________________
Appeal dismissed. Costs $15,000 to the respondent jointly with one half of their disbursements.
26 August 2009
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
Transcript
Case name
Television New Zealand Limited v Simunovich Fisheries Limited and others
Case number
SC 70/2008
Summary
Civil – Defamation – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the repetition and conduct rules of pleading apply to a defence of truth – whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to find that a defendant may not seek to prove the truth of imputations by reference to the opinions or assertions of others – did the Court of Appeal err in holding that s 38 does not permit third party assertions and opinion to be pleaded for the defence of truth – was the Court of Appeal wrong to find that a defendant is not entitled to rely on third party assertions as publication facts on which a defence of honest opinion is based, but must identify true statements of facts in the publication which may not include the fact that others made allegations or expressed opinions.[2008] NZCA 350 CA 447/07 CA 584/07 8 September 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
1 December 2008
________________________
Appeal dismissed.
Costs $15,000 to the respondent jointly with one half of their disbursements.
26 August 2009
Transcript
Case name
M v The Queen
Case number
SC 71/2008
Summary
Criminal Appeal – appeal against conviction – sexual conduct with a child under 12 years – miscarriage of justice – whether trial judge was correct to rule that the adducing of defence character evidence as to the applicant’s behaviour in relation to children would allow the Crown to adduce evidence regarding the applicant’s conviction for allowing his 14 year old daughter to drive a motor vehicle – whether trial defence counsel should have adduced the character evidence despite the judge’ s ruling – whether the judge would have then been required to give a further good character direction to the jury – [2008] NZCA 358 CA 259/07 10 September 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
M v R SC 71/2008 [10 December 2008] (PDF, 18 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
10 December 2008
Case name
RL and WL v The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development and others.
Case number
SC 77/2008
Summary
Civil Appeal – Special Application to bypass Court of Appeal – Actual or apparent bias – Muir test – Whether High Court erred by failing to take into account international conventions – Whether Court acted unreasonably and failed to properly exercise its discretion.Civ 2007 404 7031 High Court Auckland 13 October 2008.
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. Application for stay of judgment dimissed.
24 November 2008
Case name
Eric Barry Stewart v The Queen
Case number
SC 81/2008
Summary
Criminal Appeal – fraudulent use of medical certificates on ACC forms appeal against conviction – motive to lie – whether the prosecutor’ s comments to the jury about the applicant’s motive to lie amounted to a miscarriage of justice – whether the trial judge should be required to correct these comments in summing up – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the prosecutor’s questioning of defence expert witness did not amount to a miscarriage of justice because the witness did not provide the applicant with a defence – whether this questioning was without foundation, an error of law and unfair [2008] NZCA 341 CA 231/07 2 September 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted
5 February 2009
_________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions quashed. No order for retrial.
28 May 2009
5 February 2009
_________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions quashed. No order for retrial.
28 May 2009
Transcripts
- Hearing date 7 May 2009 (PDF, 180 KB)
Media Releases
- stewart v the queen media release (PDF, 87 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
STEWART v R SC 81/2008 [5 February 2009] (PDF, 12 KB)
Substantive judgment
STEWART v R SC 81/2008 [28 May 2009] (PDF, 56 KB)
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