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.
3 July 2026
Case information summary (as at 3 July 2026) – Cases where leave granted (PDF, 88 KB)
Case information summary (as at 3 July 2026) – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 127 KB)
All years
Case name
Ivan Vladimir Joseph Erceg v Balenia Limited
Case number
SC 27/2009
Summary
Civil appeal – alleged contractual breach by the appellant – clause A4(a) of the contract stipulates that the appellant’s former solicitors are to be satisfied that the respondent has clear title to the super-yachts which form the subject of the contract – the appellant’s former solicitors have not certified the respondent’s title to the super-yachts – whether the respondent is required to give notice to the appellant of its intention to rely on his alleged breach – whether the respondent is entitled to sue before making time of the essence for performance of the contract – whether the respondent bears the onus of proving that it would have been able to show clear title to the super-– whether the respondent can treat clause A4(a) as being fulfilled for the purposes of obtaining relief – whether the Court of Appeal was correct to order specific performance of the contract.[2009] NZCA 48 CA 553/2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed, with costs of $2,500 to the respondent.
27 May 2009
27 May 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ERCEG V BALENIA LIMITED SC 27/2009 27 May 2009 (PDF, 11 KB)
Case name
GPM v The Queen
Case number
SC 37/2009
Summary
Appeal against pre-trial ruling. Police investigating a burglary stopped a car in which the appellant was a passenger. Whether stopping the car was lawful despite police acting under a wrong statutory power when an alternative statutory power was available; Whether the continued search of the appellant’ s car after what had initially been thought to be weapon was actually a metal thermos was lawful; Whether evidence obtained during the continued search of the car and the resulting searches of the appellant and the appellant’ s house was admissible.[2009] NZCA 121 CA 743/2008 6 April 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 3 June 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Not publicly available
Case name
Paul Joseph Cameron v The Queen
Case number
SC 54/2009
Summary
Criminal appeal – murder – whether statements made by the appellant were made in circumstances adversely affecting their reliability and ought to have been excluded – whether statements made by the appellant were influenced by oppression and ought to have been excluded – whether statements made by the appellant were improperly obtained and ought to have been excluded - whether the appellant’s conviction was a substantial miscarriage of justice[2009] NZCA 87 CA 568/2008 24 March 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 12 August 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Case name
Totara Investment Limited v Crismac Limited and Ulster Limited
Case number
SC 75/2009
Summary
Civil – Interpretation of a mortgage - Whether the Court of Appeal erred as a matter of fact and law in finding that cl 9.1(d) of the mortgage did not authorise the lender to obtain security over additional property.[2009] NZCA 369 CA 599/2008 21 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
21 October 2009
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21 October 2009
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Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
Transcript
Elias CJ, Blanchard, McGrath, Wilson, Anderson JJ.
Case name
MA v The Attorney General
Case number
SC 106/2009
Summary
Civil – the applicant was granted recognition of status as a refugee in 1996 and New Zealand citizenship in 1997 – in 2001 the applicant was discharged on the offence of making a false statement in his refugee claim – certain documents obtained by the Police in a search of the applicant’ s home were passed to the Refugee Status Branch of the New Zealand Immigration Service – in 2006 notice was given to the applicant of intended determination of revocation of refugee status – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the search of the applicant’s home was lawful – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that privilege did not attach to certain communications between the applicant and his refugee advisor – whether the Court of Appeal erred in determining that Police lawfully provided certain documents to the New Zealand Immigration Service.[2009] NZCA 490 CA 565/2007 20 October 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed. 31 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Douglas John Williamson and John Blackwood Williamson v Selwyn District Council
Case number
SC 118/2009
Summary
Civil Appeal – security for costs – strike-out – summary judgment – Appeal against strike-out by Court of Appeal – appellants’ failure to pay security for costs – Appeal against application in High Court by Selwyn District Council (SDC) to recover possession of land – Appellants refused to vacate land on expiry of 3-year lease agreement as part of sale and purchase agreement of land to SDC – Whether sale and purchase agreement and lease void because SDC exerted duress/undue influence or obtained unconscionable bargain in abuse of dominant bargaining position, or acted in breach of Local Government Act 1974 – Whether the SDC breached Resource Management Act 1991 in obtaining non-notified resource consent – Whether lawyers acted in conflict of interest between appellants and SDC councillor and breached fiduciary duty – Whether appellants waived conflict of interest with informed consent.[2008] NZCA 147 CA 662/2007 5 June 2008
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 23 February 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Supreme court decision
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Ahmad Zanzoul v The Queen
Case number
SC 17/2008
Summary
Criminal appeal – applicant convicted after pleading guilty pursuant to s 153A of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 on an information laid under s 31(1)(f)(ii) of the Passports Act 1992 – sentenced to 15 months imprisonment with leave to apply for home detention – whether the conviction and sentence is a nullity for want of legal certainty or vagueness of the provisions dealing with the indictable and summary jurisdiction for penalty purposes – alternatively, whether the Court of Appeal erred in law by constructing the legislation to the applicant’s detriment in failing to apply the lesser penalty where the legislation was “complex and confusing” – additionally, whether admissions were obtained without informing the applicant of his rights not to incriminate himself, to silence, and to obtain a lawyer in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – whether, under art 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations read in conjunction with the Refugee Convention, the applicant should, as a refugee claimant, have been provided on detainment with advice by a consular or appropriate international official – whether a Hansen declaration should be made with regard to this issue – whether the applicant’s hearing before the Refugee Status Appeals Authority was unlawful for lack of independence and impartiality on the principles of Charanjit Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] ScotCS 342 – whether the Court of Appeal erred in fact and law in finding and taking into account that there is nothing linking the appellant’s possession of a false Australian passport with his claim for refugee status – whether the Court of Appeal erred in law in taking into account that the applicant was not in the situation of many refugee claimants – application for name suppression.CA 297/06 6 December 2006
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ZANZOUL v R SC 17/2008 [10 June 2008] (PDF, 25 KB)
Additional document
ZANZOUL v R SC 17/2008 [9 May 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
10 June 2008
Case name
I A Campbell, J Hughes and S C Biss v Craggy Range Vineyard Limited
Case number
SC 26/2008
Summary
Civil Appeal – contract interpretation – agreement for sale and purchase of land - whether the respondent could rely on post-contractual events when interpreting contract – whether a grant of a second water right to the respondent gave rise to a separate liability for payment given the grant was obtained after the respondent had declared the clause relating to water rights to be satisfied.[2008] NZCA 96 CA 254/07 CA 462/07 24 April 2008
Dates
Notice of abandonment being lodged, the application for leave to appeal is deemed to be dismissed.
Case name
Paul Joseph Cameron v The Queen
Case number
SC 30/2008
Summary
High Court Gisborne CRN 2006 016 00325Criminal appeal – Evidence Act 2006 ss 28, 29 and 30 – admissibility of “scenario evidence” (evidence obtained by an investigative technique whereby police invite a suspect to participate with an undercover police officer in a constructed event designed to simulate criminal activity) – applicant made statements to undercover police officer posing as gang leader that were admitted in Court against him – whether, under s 29(4)(d), a threat, promise or representation must only be taken into account in determining whether a statement was influenced by oppression if it were made by a person in authority – further, whether evidence should be excluded for unreliability or improperly being obtained under s 28 and s 30 respectively.
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
CAMERON v R SC 30/2008 [1 August 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
1 August 2008
Case name
Kevin Jack Ngan v The Queen
Case number
SC 5/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction – earlier unsuccessful application for leave to appeal directly to Supreme Court (see SC 24/2006) – lawfulness of “inventory searches” – admissibility of evidence obtained through police searches of applicant’s sunglasses pouch and wallet following injury of applicant in car crash – whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that searches both lawful and reasonable and evidence therefore properly admitted. CA 220/06 1 December 2006
Result
Leave to appeal granted. 15 March 2007
Media Releases
- pressreleasengan 000 (PDF, 78 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
Substantive judgment
NGAN v R SC 5/2007 [13 December 2007] (PDF, 195 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Transcript
Substantive judgment / Media release
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