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.
22 September 2026
Case information summary (as at 18 September 2026) – Cases where leave granted (PDF, 112 KB)
Case information summary (as at 18 September 2026) – Currently unavailable
All years
Criminal Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
The application leave to appeal is dismissed.
16 October 2025
Civil Appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted (Attorney-General v Parore [2025] NZCA 328, [2025] 2 NZLR 751).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to allow the appeal.
2 December 2025
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Appellant's submissions (PDF, 734 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Appellant's chronology (PDF, 286 KB)
- Hearing date 19 20 March 2026 Appellant's oral outline (PDF, 169 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Respondent's submissions (PDF, 619 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Respondent's chronology (PDF, 323 KB)
- Hearing date 19 20 March 2026 Respondent's oral outline (PDF, 384 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Human Rights Commission's submissions (PDF, 346 KB)
- Hearing date 19 20 March 2026 Human Rights Commission's oral outline (PDF, 209 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 NZLS submissions (PDF, 909 KB)
- Hearing date 19-20 March 2026 transcript (PDF, 1020 KB)
- Hearing date 19 - 20 March 2026 Case Synopsis (PDF, 367 KB)
- SC 88/2025 Maxwell Richard Allen Parore v Attorney-General (Recorded, 20 March 2026)
- SC 88/2025 Maxwell Richard Allen Parore v Attorney-General (Recorded, 19 March 2026)
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The application for an extension of time to apply for leave to appeal is granted.
B The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
C The application for a stay of enforcement of the Court of Appeal costs award is dismissed.
D The applicant must pay the respondents one set of costs of $2,500.
23 October 2025
Civil Appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted (Rimmer v Wilton as administrator of the estate of Rimmer [2025] NZCA 374).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal.
31 October 2025
__________________________________________________
A The appeal is allowed.
B The respondent must pay costs of $38,800 plus usual
disbursements. We allow for second counsel.
C The costs award made by the Court of Appeal is set aside
and replaced by an order of costs in the appellants’ favour
for a standard appeal on a band A basis together with usual
disbursements.
D Costs in the High Court are to lie where they fall.
4 September 2026
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Appellants' submissions (PDF, 1 MB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Respondent's submissions (PDF, 422 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Intervener's submissions (PDF, 245 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Joint chronology (PDF, 107 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Appellants' oral outline (PDF, 138 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Respondent's oral outline (PDF, 64 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Transcript (PDF, 729 KB)
- Hearing date 17 March 2026 Case Synopsis (PDF, 358 KB)
- MR [2026] NZSC 122 (PDF, 262 KB)
Criminal Appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted (F (CA126/2025) v R [2025] NZCA 385).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal.
9 December 2025
- Hearing date 22 April 2026 Case Synopsis (F v The King) (PDF, 445 KB)
- MR [2026] NZSC 78 (PDF, 282 KB)
Criminal Appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is granted.
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the applicant’s appeal against conviction.
5 March 2026
- Hearing date 14 July 2026 Appellant's submissions (PDF, 425 KB)
- Hearing date 14 July 2026 Respondent's submissions (PDF, 683 KB)
- Hearing date 14 July 2026 Transcript (PDF, 573 KB)
- Hearing date 14 July 2026 Case Synopsis (PDF, 445 KB)
- SC 108/2025 Julius Te Hivaka v The King (Recorded, 14 July 2026)
Criminal Appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted in part (Watson v R [2025] NZCA 455). The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to conclude no miscarriage of justice arose from the decision of the trial Judge to admit the visual identification evidence of Guy Wallace.
B The application for leave to appeal is otherwise dismissed.
10 March 2026
Criminal Appeal
A Leave to appeal is granted (Mulford v R [2025] NZCA 444).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal.
18 December 2025
- Hearing date 31 March 2026 Appellant's submissions (PDF, 303 KB)
- Hearing date 31 March 2026 Respondent's submissions (PDF, 636 KB)
- Hearing date 31 March 2026 Transcript (PDF, 390 KB)
- Hearing date 31 March 2026 Case Synopsis (PDF, 449 KB)
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the first respondent costs of $2,000.
C The applicant must pay the second respondent costs of $500.
11 December 2025
Criminal Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
- Hearing date 3 - 4 August 2026 Appellant's submissions (PDF, 924 KB)
- Hearing date 3 - 4 August 2026 Respondent's submissions (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Hearing date 3 - 4 August 2026 Intervener's submissions (PDF, 349 KB)
- Hearing date 3 - 4 August 2026 Case Synopsis (PDF, 443 KB)
- SC 157/2025 Lori-Lea Wairoa Te Wini v The King & SC 158/2025 Courtney Pauline Churchward v The King (Recorded, 4 August 2026)
- SC 157/2025 Lori-Lea Wairoa Te Wini v The King & SC 158/2025 Courtney Pauline Churchward v The King (Recorded, 3 August 2026)