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
Astrazeneca Limited v Commerce Commission and Pharmaceutical Management Agency
Case number
SC 91/2008
Summary
Civil Appeal – Respondent gave notice under s 98 of the Commerce Act 1986 of an investigation into allegations that the applicant acted contrary to section 36 of the Act in negotiations with PHARMAC – whether exemption to Part 2 of the Commerce Act in s 53 of the Public Health and Disability Act 2000 applied so that the respondent should not have issued a notice – whether Court of Appeal erred in concluding it did not have sufficient factual information to determine whether s 53 applied – whether the Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that there might be some other purpose of s 53 which would become evident when it was considered in light of the full facts.[2008] NZCA 479 CA 241/2008 11 November 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted
25 February 2009
________________________
Appeal allowed. It is declared that the notice under s 98 of the Commerce Act 1986 given by the Commerce Commission on 31 October 2007 was ultra vires and invalid. It is ordered that the notice is quashed. The Commerce Commission is ordered to pay the appellant costs in this Court of $15,000 together with reasonable disbursements as fixed by the Registrar. Costs in the Court of Appeal and the High Court should now be fixed respectively by those Courts in light of this Court’s judgment.
26 August 2009
25 February 2009
________________________
Appeal allowed. It is declared that the notice under s 98 of the Commerce Act 1986 given by the Commerce Commission on 31 October 2007 was ultra vires and invalid. It is ordered that the notice is quashed. The Commerce Commission is ordered to pay the appellant costs in this Court of $15,000 together with reasonable disbursements as fixed by the Registrar. Costs in the Court of Appeal and the High Court should now be fixed respectively by those Courts in light of this Court’s judgment.
26 August 2009
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
Transcript
Case name
James Michael Leuluaiali’i v The Queen
Case number
SC 1/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – appellant convicted as party to attempted murder and murder – appeal by a co-accused had been allowed on grounds of error in summing up in relation to parties; like errors in present case – appeal allowed in relation to attempted murder – in relation to murder the proviso to s 385(1) applied and appeal dismissed – whether application of the proviso led to a substantial miscarriage of justice. CA 122/06 22 November 2006
Result
Leave to appeal dismissed. 30 March 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
LEULUAIALI'L v R SC 1/2007 [30 March 2007] (PDF, 16 KB)
Case name
Waitara Leaseholders Association Inc v New Plymouth District Council
Case number
SC 23/2007
Summary
Civil –Whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that land was not held on a charitable trust and that the Council was not subject to the obligations of charitable trustees – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding the Council was not obliged to consider the objects of the statutory trusts when deciding to seek legislation to remove trust restrictions – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that compliance with section 14(6) of the Trustee Act 1956 relieves a trustee from its obligation of obtaining the best price for an asset – whether the Supreme Court should grant leave to pursue a new ground, namely that the Council failed to take into account the fact that its decisions were contrary to previous promises and assurances that it had made.CA 259/05 CA 260/05 20 March 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed with costs $2,500 to the respondent.
20 June 2007
20 June 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Raymond Fraser Kara v The Queen
Case number
SC 34/2007
Summary
Summary Criminal – appeal against increase in sentence as result of successful Solicitor-General’s appeal – Court of Appeal took premeditation into account as additional aggravating factor – whether Court of Appeal formed mistaken understanding of facts of offending. CA 416/06 11 May 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
23 July 2007
23 July 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
KARA v R SC 34/2007 [23 July 2007] (PDF, 16 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Philip David Sturm v The Queen
Case number
SC 35/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction – in relation to appellant’ s conviction for stupefying with intent to facilitate the commission of a crime Court of Appeal held that Crown had to prove not only an intention to facilitate the commission of a crime but also an intention to stupefy – trial directions – whether Court of Appeal erred in finding that trial Judge’s directions were sufficient regarding the intention to stupefy – whether Court of Appeal should have focused on whether directions contained an error of law giving rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice rather than focusing on sufficiency of directions – whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that even if directions were unsatisfactory the appellant was clearly subjectively reckless – whether Court of Appeal erred in finding no error in trial Judge’s direction that the voluntary consumption of drugs and alcohol was irrelevant to stupefying counts – whether Court of Appeal erred in concluding that there was no merit in the suggestion that the verdict on the stupefying count “coloured” the other verdicts.CA 35/2007 4 May 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
2 August 2007
2 August 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
STURM V R SC 35/2007 [2 August 2007] (PDF, 17 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
George Socrates Mamfredos and others v Herbert Equities Limited
Case number
SC 48/2007
Summary
Civil – principles applicable to lodging of caveats – whether, in the circumstances, the applicants (against whom caveat applications were brought) bore and failed to discharge an evidential onus – whether the Court of Appeal erred in fact and law, took irrelevant matters into account or failed to have regard to relevant pieces of evidence in overturning in part the High Court’s decision to dismiss the respondent’s caveat applications.CA 147/06 6 July 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Glenharrow Holdings Limited v Commissioner of Inland Revenue
Case number
SC 59/2007
Summary
Civil appeal – avoidance of GST under section 76 of Goods and Services Tax Act 1985 – whether the High Court erred in its findings of fact relating to the value of the mining license purchased by the applicant - whether the High Court erred when it concluded that the purchase price for the mining license was grossly inflated – whether the evidence was such that only one conclusion was reasonably open to the Court – whether a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred as a result of incorrect findings of fact – whether, given the High Court finding that the transaction was a genuine arms length agreement, there was a basis for a finding under section 76 that the transaction defeated the scheme and purposes of the Act– whether an open market value should be used when determining GST obligations where a transaction is genuine and at arms length – whether the Court of Appeal erred by conflating the value of a loan used to purchase an asset with the consideration paid – whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to determining the total consideration – whether it was open to the Court of Appeal to make a finding that the loan repayments amounted to an ‘ empty obligation’ – whether the Court of Appeal erred in its application of Peterson v CIR [2006] 3 NZLR 433CA 192/05 15 August 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted. 4 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment / Media release
Judgment appealed from
Transcript
Hearing date : 8 – 10 July 2008
Elias CJ, Blanchard, Tipping, McGrath , Anderson JJ
Case name
W v The Queen
Case number
SC 78/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction – sexual offending against daughter – alleged errors in interventions, directions and summing-up by trial Judge, circumstances of recall of expert witness by Crown after closing addresses, and conduct of defence counsel – whether various alleged trial errors, individually or collectively, may have given rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice.[2007] NZCA 34 CA 222/06 1 March 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 15 April 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
W V R SC 78/2007 [15 April 2008] (PDF, 18 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Terrence Austin McFarland v The Queen
Case number
SC 79/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction for maiming with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – applicant was unrepresented at trial – amicus curiae appointed without prior notice to the applicant, in his absence, and without his consent – whether the amicus made a substantial error in failing to advise the applicant against calling evidence from the former co-accused – whether the trial Judge erred by misdirecting the jury on the standard of proof and failing to provide directions on the cross-examination and the submissions made to the jury by crown counsel.[2007] NZCA 449 CA 385/06 18 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MCFARLAND v R SC 79/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 19 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Lionel Andrew West v The Official Assignee
Case number
SC 82/2007
Summary
Civil appeal – disposal of applicant’s beneficial interest in property on insolvency – whether the Official Assignee was prevented from selling the applicant’s interest in the trust property when the applicant had been discharged from bankruptcy – whether the Official Assignee was free to choose which property comprised the applicant’s 1/3 share in the trust property –whether the Court of Appeal applied Cameron v Official Assignee (1987) 9 NZTC 6,187 correctly – whether the Official Assignee’s mistaken belief that he replaced the applicant as trustee of the property formed a cause of action in negligence - whether all debts owed by the applicant had been paid and whether this fact affected the ability of the Official Assignee to sell the property interest – whether the Court of Appeal should have allowed the applicant to introduce new evidence – whether the Magna Carta prevented the Official Assignee from disposing of the applicant’s property interest. [2007] NZCA 523 CA 53/06 20 November 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. Costs of $1500 to the respondent. 11 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
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