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.

28 November 2025

Case information summary 2025 (as at 28 November 2025) –  Cases where leave granted (PDF, 87 KB)
Case information summary 2025 (as at 28 November 2025)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 120 KB)

All years

Case name
Ricky Tamati v The Queen
Case number
SC 119/2011
Summary
Criminal – Evidence Act 2006 – jury direction – appeal against conviction on four representative charges of sexual violation and one of indecent assault – primary focus at trial had been the reliability of the evidence of the complainant who had suffered brain injury at a young age – whether the trial Judge erred in failing to warn the jury, as is permitted under s 122(1) of the Act if of the opinion that evidence admitted “may nevertheless be unreliable”, of the need for caution in deciding whether to accept the evidence of the complainant and the weight to be given to that evidence – if so, whether the failure to give a warning to the jury led to a miscarriage of justice[2010] NZCA 49   CA 440/2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
sc 119 2011 ricky john tamati v the queen leave judgment (PDF, 40 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
13 December 2011.
Case name
Michael Andrew Keith Hastie  v The Queen
Case number
SC 120/2011
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the trial Judge should have given a Papadopoulos direction.[2011] NZCA 498   CA 153/2011
Result

The application for leave to appeal is granted.

The approved grounds of appeal are whether the directions given to the jury before it delivered its verdicts were appropriate and, if not, whether this gave rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice?

9 February 2012

_______________________

Appeal dismissed.

23 July 2012
Transcript

Hearing date : 7 June 2012

Elias CJ, Tipping, McGrath, William Young, Chambers JJ
Case name
Christine Mary Herron and another v Westpac New Zealand Limited
Case number
SC 121/2011
Summary
Civil Appeal – Evidence – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its assessment of a witness’s credibility – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its treatment of evidence that was allegedly of a hearsay character – Whether the respondent breached any of its obligations in relation to putting relevant evidence (allegedly in its possession) before the Court.[2011] NZCA 544  CA 505/2010
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed with costs $2,500 to  the respondent.
17 February 2012.
Case name
Station Properties Limited (in liquidation) v Shane Arthur Paget
Case number
SC 122/2011
Summary
[2011] NZCA 570  CA 36/2010
Dates
Notice of abandonment being lodged, the appeal for leave to appeal is deemed to be dismissed.
13 February 2012
Case name
MFT Properties  Limited v Country Club Apartments Limited
Case number
SC 123/2011
Summary
Civil Appeal – Leases – Contracts Enforcement Act 1956 – Whether Court of Appeal erred in finding a binding oral agreement to vary rental rate rather than indulgence revocable at will by lessor – Whether oral agreement constituted sufficient memorandum for purposes or Contracts Enforcement Act or whether alternatively doctrine of part performance could apply to agreement – Whether Court of Appeal erred in factual findings in respect of accommodation charge set-off and penalty interest liability.[2011] NZCA 560  CA 244/2011
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed, costs of $2,500 to the respondent.
29 February 2012.
Case name
Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota Inc and others v OCS Limited
Case number
SC 124/2011
Summary
Employment – Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 69N(3) and 69O – Relationship between the Act and the parties’ (collective) employment agreement – Express exclusion of monetary compensation for redundancy by terms of agreement, with alternative forms of entitlement also provided for – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that appellants are not entitled to seek (bargain for) appropriate redundancy entitlements under the Act  [2011] NZCA 597  CA 865/2010
Result

Leave to appeal is granted.

The approved questions are whether, and if so to what extent, the multi-employer collective employment agreement precludes the second appellants from bargaining for redundancy entitlements under s 69N of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

28 February 2012

_________________________

The appeal is allowed.
The orders made by the Court of Appeal are set aside.
The orders made by the Employment Court are reinstated. 

9 August 2012
Transcript

Hearing date : 26 July 2012

Tipping, McGrath, William Young, Gault, Blanchard JJ.
Case name
Mark Terence Pearson v The Queen
Case number
SC 125/2011
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Section 76 of the Evidence Act 2006 – Illegitimate reasoning by jury – That the Court of Appeal was wrong to decline to interview one of the jury members at the appellant’s trial – That the application should be heard out of time. [2011] NZCA 572  CA 411/2011
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
27 April 2012.
Case name
Ross Nathan v The Queen
Case number
SC 126/2011
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Attempt to adduce fresh evidence – Whether evidence of the complainant allegedly being in a sexual relationship at the time that the offence was committed was relevant to the complainant’ s reliability and credibility – Whether failure to adduce that evidence resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice.[2011] NZCA 578  CA 318/2011
Dates
Hearing
Case name
Xing Hua Du v Ming Gu
Case number
SC 127/2011
Summary
Civil Appeal – Joint Venture Agreement – The applicant and respondent were parties to a joint venture agreement, the terms of which were breached by the respondent, but the respondent raised a number of positive defences – The Court of Appeal held that the respondent was allowed to avoid the joint agreement because of the applicant’s failure to comply with ss 63 and 64 of the Real Estate Agents Act 1976 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the termination of the agency agreement between the applicant and a real estate agency required, by way of reasonable notice, not less than 14 days notice – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that, because the agency agreement was still afoot, and because ss 63 and 64 of the Real Estate Agents Act were not complied with, the joint venture agreement was voidable – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the respondent’s cancellation of the joint venture agreement was a valid exercise of her rights under s 63(3) of the Real Estate Agents Act.[2011] NZCA 577  CA 867/2010
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. Costs $2,500 to the respondent.
6 March 2012.
Case name
Ricardo Aryan v The Queen
Case number
SC 128/2011
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the applicant’s appeal against conviction – Whether conviction should be appealed because of fresh evidence.[2010] NZCA 57  CA 614/2009
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
13 March 2012.
Page 203 of 270