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.

12 December 2025

Case information summary 2025 (as at 18 December 2025) –  Cases where leave granted (PDF, 87 KB)
Case information summary 2025 (as at 18 December 2025)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 121 KB)

All years

Case name
Richard Prebble and Ken Shirley v Donna Awatere Huata
Case number
SC 9/2004 SC CIV 9/2004
Summary
Whether distortion of "the proportionality of political party representation in Parliament" in terms of s55D of the Electoral Act 1993 was properly limited to conduct which alters a party's relative voting strength through defection - whether the belief of the leaders of the Act party that Huata had acted so as to distort the proportionality of Parliament was a reasonable one - whether, and to what extent, the scope of judicial review is limited in the context of ss55A-55D of the Act. CA34/04 16 July 2004
Result
Leave to appeal granted.
25 August 2004
_________________
A Appeal allowed
B Order of the Court of Appeal prohibiting delivery of the proposed notice to the Speaker of the House of Representatives is discharged.
C Appellant entitled to costs in this and the lower courts.
18 November 2004
________________________
Costs to appellant in the sum of $15,000, together with disbursements of $2,000.
19 April 2005
Transcripts
Court of Appeal decision
Huata v Prebble [2004] NZCA 147; [2004] 3 NZLR 359 (16 July 2004)
Leave judgment - leave granted
PREBBLE And Ors V HUATA SC SC CIV 9/2004 25 August 2004 (PDF, 10 KB)
Substantive judgment
PREBBLE And Ors V HUATA SC SC CIV 9/2004 [18 November 2004] (PDF, 139 KB)
Additional document
Judgment on costs PREBBLE And Ors V HUATA SC SC CIV 9/2004 [19 April 2005] (PDF, 36 KB)
Case name
Vaughn Bennett v The Queen
Case number
SC 16/2004 CRI 16/2004
Summary
Criminal appeal against conviction and sentence for charges of manslaughter and supply of a Class B drug - appellant administered methadone to victim - when a witness may be allowed to refresh his/her memory from statements made to police - when and how a timeline may be presented to a jury - whether a sentence of ten years' imprisonment (with a six year non-parole period) was within the range available to the sentencing judge. CA457/03 23 September 2004
Result
Application for leave to appeal refused.
10 December 2004
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
VAUGHN BENNETT V R SC SC CRI 16/04 [10 December 2004] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from

NZLII : BENNET v R [2004] NZCA 239
Case name
V v The Queen
Case number
Summary
Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including theresult) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.
Result

Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including

the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final

disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.                                                               

7 July 2017

______________________

Substantive:

Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.               
21 September 2017
Case number                              

SC 54/2017
Hearing date

Hearing date : 22 August 2017                                                                      
Elias CJ, William Young, Glazebrook, O'Regan and Ellen France JJ.
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