New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Medical evidence

Legal area

Court

17 Nov 2022

S v THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2022] NZHC 2992

Citation

[2022] NZHC 2992
Court

High Court

The proceedings were struck out as an abuse of process because the applicant repeatedly seeks to relitigate issues (committal admissibility, medical evidence, trial counsel errors) that have been finally determined by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court; any alleged committal defects were peripheral or cured by the trial and could not have affected the outcome, so the claim discloses no reasonably arguable cause of action.
7 Oct 2022

PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2022] NZSC 115

Citation

[2022] NZSC 115
Court

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and quashed the convictions because (1) significant parts of the s 23G expert evidence admitted at trial went beyond the statutory limits, contained circular reasoning, and would likely have been understood as endorsing complainants' credibility; the Crown's Chart compounded the misrepresentation; and (2) the risk of contamination from parental questioning and other influences was understated and the jury was given false reassurance about detectability of contamination. These errors could have affected the verdicts and thus occasioned a miscarriage of just…
6 Apr 2022

MCLEAN v R [2022] NZCA 114

Citation

[2022] NZCA 114
Court

Court of Appeal

The medical material in the Agreed Facts was properly admitted because it neutralised the complainant's account of anal bleeding by providing an alternative medical explanation and recorded that the examination did not prove or disprove assault; the counterintuitive evidence was admissible and appropriately generic because it addressed live issues of delayed complaint and offending in proximity to others and was correctly directed to the jury as educative and neutral; no miscarriage of justice arose, appeal dismissed.
11 Nov 2021

PRESCOTT v THOMPSON [2021] NZCA 590

Citation

[2021] NZCA 590
Court

Court of Appeal

Extensions of time were refused because the appellant caused inordinate and unexplained delay, the appeals had no realistic prospect of success, the appellant was an experienced litigant who had presented his case in the District Court, and the interests of justice and finality required termination of further proceedings; accordingly both appeals are deemed abandoned and costs were ordered.
31 Jul 2020

COGLE v IAG NEW ZEALAND LIMITED [2020] NZHC 1908

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1908
Court

High Court

Despite deficiencies in the plaintiffs' evidence and delay in seeking legal aid, the Court narrowly concluded that the interests of justice required an adjournment to permit legal representation for a complex 10-day positive defence hearing that raises potential self-incrimination and factual complexity; adjournment granted to 17 May 2021 on conditions including prompt legal aid application and reservation of costs issues.
16 Jul 2019

Cotter v Accident Compensation Corporation (Personal Injury)

Citation

[2019] NZACC 81
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the appellant failed to prove that the 2007 incident caused her present left knee tricompartmental osteoarthritis or that her occupational tasks meet the s30 test; medical and contemporaneous evidence do not establish causation, so the ACC decisions declining cover are upheld and the appeal is dismissed.
5 Jun 2019

PQ v Accident Compensation Corporation (Mental Injury)

Citation

[2019] NZACC 60
Court

District Court

Applying the materially-contributing causation test from W, the Judge found the 1988 sexual assault materially contributed to the appellant's schizophrenia in a genuine and meaningful way and allowed the appeal, concluding ACC's decision declining cover for schizophrenia was incorrect.
9 May 2019

BOOKER v R [2019] NZCA 149

Citation

[2019] NZCA 149
Court

Court of Appeal

The jury were properly directed that the Crown had to prove the appellant consciously refused to permit a blood specimen; the jury could properly find beyond reasonable doubt that refusal occurred while conscious on the evidence; the statutory prerequisites in s 73(5) were satisfied on the evidence and by the medical certificate which was not challenged; statutory protection in s 73(7) means Bill of Rights claims do not negate the operation of s 73, therefore the conviction stands.
16 Apr 2019

D v Accident Compensation Corporation (Claim for Mental Injury)

Citation

[2019] NZACC 31
Court

District Court

The appellant failed to establish on the evidence that his covered tinnitus/hearing loss caused a recognisable mental injury under s27; the unchallenged psychiatric opinion of Dr Collier that no causal link existed was determinative, so the appeal is dismissed.
28 Mar 2019

Kilby v Accident Compensation Corporation (Treatment Injury)

Citation

[2019] NZACC 26
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the appellant did not establish that the 19 April 2012 treatment caused a TMJ derangement: pre-existing symptoms dating to 2007 undermine a temporal causal link, the MRI evidence only demonstrates derangement by October 2012 but not causation, and expert opinions did not attribute the condition to the technician's treatment; risk of causation alone is insufficient under the applicable authorities and s32 ACC Act 2001.