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.
17 July 2026
Case information summary (as at 17 July 2026) – Cases where leave granted (PDF, 87 KB)
Case information summary (as at 17 July 2026) – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 128 KB)
All years
Case name
Peter Gomm, Jennifer Mary Shipley and Clive William Charles Tilby v Mainzeal Property and Construction Limited (in liquidation), Andrew James Bethell, Richard Ciliang Yan and Andrew McKay
Case number
SC 52/2021
Summary
Civil Appeal and Cross Appeal
Result
A The appeals by the directors are dismissed.
B The cross-appeal by the liquidators is allowed to the extent that in lieu of the remittal of the proceedings back to the High Court, we order the directors to contribute to the assets of Mainzeal $39.8 million together with interest at prescribed rates since 28 February 2013 with the liabilities of Dame Jennifer Shipley and Messrs Tilby and Gomm each limited to $6.6 million and interest.
C The directors are to pay costs in the sum of $65,000 together with reasonable disbursements.
25 August 2023
B The cross-appeal by the liquidators is allowed to the extent that in lieu of the remittal of the proceedings back to the High Court, we order the directors to contribute to the assets of Mainzeal $39.8 million together with interest at prescribed rates since 28 February 2013 with the liabilities of Dame Jennifer Shipley and Messrs Tilby and Gomm each limited to $6.6 million and interest.
C The directors are to pay costs in the sum of $65,000 together with reasonable disbursements.
25 August 2023
Date of hearing
07 March 2022
- 11 March 2022
Judges
Winkelmann CJ, William Young, Glazebrook, O'Regan and Ellen France JJ
Transcripts
- Hearing date 7 - 11 March 2022 (PDF, 2 MB)
Case Synopses
- Hearing Mon 7 March - Fri 11 March 2022 (PDF, 436 KB)
Media Releases
- MR [2023] NZSC 113 (PDF, 342 KB)
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
Case name
Jiawen Mao v Hyun Bin Kim and Duk Young Lee
Case number
SC 79/2021
Summary
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondents costs of $2,500.
21 September 2021
B The applicant must pay the respondents costs of $2,500.
21 September 2021
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Case name
Craig Lee McDonald v The District Court at Christchurch
Case number
SC 97/2021
Summary
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B There is no order as to costs.
5 November 2021
B There is no order as to costs.
5 November 2021
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Cheyman Lee Mitchell v New Zealand Police
Case number
SC 116/2021
Summary
Criminal Appeal
Result
A Leave to appeal is granted (Mitchell v New Zealand Police [2021] NZCA 417).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal.
14 December 2021
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
The appeal is dismissed.
11 August 2023
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal.
14 December 2021
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
The appeal is dismissed.
11 August 2023
Date of hearing
10 May 2022
Judges
Winkelmann CJ, O’Regan, Ellen France, Williams and Kós JJ
Submissions from counsel
- Hearing date 10 May 2022 Appellant submissions (PDF, 633 KB)
- Hearing date 10 May 2022 Respondent submissions (PDF, 434 KB)
Transcripts
- Hearing date 10 May 2022 (PDF, 389 KB)
Media Releases
- MR [2023] NZSC 104 (PDF, 287 KB)
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
Case name
Paul Andrew Snowden v The Commissioner of Police
Case number
SC 153/2021
Summary
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
Result
A The application for an extension of time to apply for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B There is no order as to costs.
8 March 2022
B There is no order as to costs.
8 March 2022
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Glenn William Schaeffer v James Joseph Murren as Trustee of the James J Murren Spendthrift Trust and and Daniel Lee
Case number
SC 50/2020
Summary
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the respondents costs of $2,500.
22 September 2020
B The applicant must pay the respondents costs of $2,500.
22 September 2020
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Case name
Christopher Joseph O'Neill v Andrew Bridgman, Tania Ott and Carl Crafar
Case number
SC 84/2020
Summary
Civil Appeal - Application for leave to bring an appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay the first, second and third respondents one set of costs of $2,500.
18 December 2020
B The applicant must pay the first, second and third respondents one set of costs of $2,500.
18 December 2020
High Court decision
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Dwayne Russell Warakihi Maaka Smyth-Davoren v David Parker, Jacinda Ardern and Andrew Little
Case number
SC 47/2019
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing to grant an extension of time to file the case on appeal and apply for the allocation of a hearing date.
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B No order as to costs.
1 July 2019
_______________________________
The applications for recall of this Court’s judgments in Smyth Davoren v Parker [2019] NZSC 66 and in Smyth Davoren v Mountbatten [2019] NZSC 67 are dismissed.
8 July 2019
B No order as to costs.
1 July 2019
_______________________________
The applications for recall of this Court’s judgments in Smyth Davoren v Parker [2019] NZSC 66 and in Smyth Davoren v Mountbatten [2019] NZSC 67 are dismissed.
8 July 2019
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Recall judgment
Case name
Allan Jack West v Geoffrey Allan West, David John Cameron West and The Partners of Langley Twigg Law
Case number
SC 56/2019
Summary
Civil Appeal – Particular discovery – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the High Court was functus officio and could not grant particular discovery.
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B There is no order as to costs.
9 October 2019
B There is no order as to costs.
9 October 2019
High Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Robert Lee as Trustee of the Estate of JG Lee v Gergory Lee, Gregory Lee and Jane Lois Lee as trustees of The Leeroy Family Trust
Case number
SC 81/2019
Summary
Civil Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in requiring the appellant to pay security for costs under rule 5.45 of the High Court Rules 2016.
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B The applicant must pay costs of $2,500 to the respondents.
8 November 2019
B The applicant must pay costs of $2,500 to the respondents.
8 November 2019
Court of Appeal decision
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
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