New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Open justice balancing

Legal area

Court

19 Dec 2022

STUFF LTD v M [2022] NZHC 3538

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3538
Court

High Court

The High Court upheld the District Court: evidence (including uncontradicted expert opinion and corroborating family evidence) established publication would be likely to endanger the respondent's safety and cause extreme hardship by materially increasing a sustained suicide risk driven by public humiliation; balancing open justice against that real risk, suppression was properly exercised and must continue; appeal dismissed.
12 Aug 2021

G v COMMISSIONER OF POLICE [2021] NZHC 2103

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2103
Court

High Court

Interim suppression of name and identifying particulars is justified because, on balance and pending the first call, the applicant's privacy and rehabilitation interests outweigh open justice concerns; the Court therefore exercises its inherent jurisdiction and grants anonymisation pending further order.
19 May 2021

SAX v CAMPBELL [2021] NZHC 1114

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1114
Court

High Court

All applications were dismissed: recall failed because no very special reason or material issue warranting recall; leave to appeal cannot be granted by this Court as the correct procedure lies with the Court of Appeal and the 20 working day window had expired; interim suppression was refused because the evidence did not establish harm causally attributable to the 5 March 2021 judgment and open justice outweighed suppression; stay was refused because there was no active appeal/leave application before the Court and the balance favoured the respondent; due to allegations of risk the court direc…
23 May 2019

F & ANOR v CUSTOMS OFFICER X & ORS [2019] NZHC 1141 .

Citation

[2019] NZHC 1141
Court

High Court

Applicant appointed litigation guardian because his and the child's interests align and he is competent to conduct proceedings; service on the child dispensed with due to age and location; interim suppression orders (names of applicant, child, mother and the country) and non‑search order granted because the limited public interest in disclosure and the specific risk that publication would prejudice the child's recovery by alerting the mother or foreign authorities justified a departure from open justice, with leave reserved for defendants to apply for review.
27 Aug 2018

R v McGRATH [2018] NZHC 2212

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2212
Court

High Court

Starting point set at 15 years for Band 4 methamphetamine offending with a 12 month uplift for extensive possession of incapacitated and high-capacity firearms (combined starting point 16 years); applied a 15% discount for the causal contribution of defendant's diagnosed OCD and anxiety and a 25% discount for an early guilty plea, producing an effective sentence of 10 years and one month imprisonment; concurrent two year sentence on the remaining charges; declined to impose a minimum sentence beyond that otherwise applicable under the Parole Act; granted temporary suppression of identificatio…

New Zealand Case Law

STUFF LTD v M [2022] NZHC 3538

G v COMMISSIONER OF POLICE [2021] NZHC 2103

SAX v CAMPBELL [2021] NZHC 1114

F & ANOR v CUSTOMS OFFICER X & ORS [2019] NZHC 1141 .

R v McGRATH [2018] NZHC 2212