Paper Reclaim (GJ Judd QC and AG Rowe) and Aotearoa International (AF Grant and AA Sinclair).

The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal a case based around whether the Court of Appeal erred in its approach to a damages award to Aotearoa International Ltd.

Justices Peter Blanchard, Andrew Tipping and John McGrath granted Paper Reclaim Ltd leave to appeal.

The court also granted Aotearoa International leave to appeal on the following grounds: Whether the Court of Appeal erred in fixing the length of the required notice of 12 months; whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the fiduciary cause of action added nothing from the point of view of the remedies to which Aotearoa wasm entitled and whether the Court of Appeal erred in amending the costs order made in the High Court.

The Court was not satisfied that leave should be granted to appeal the Court of Appeal’s conclusions in relation to the question of exporting via Carter Holt. The Court said that issue was particular to the facts of the present case and did not raise any matter of general or public interest or of any general commercial significance and leave to appeal on that ground was declined. Costs were reserved.

Brett Ronald Larsen (DK Wilson) and Rick Dees Ltd (DA Wood).

Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias, Justices Peter Blanchard and Andrew Tipping granted Mr Larsen leave to appeal on the following grounds: Whether electronic funds transfer was a method of settlement available to the purchaser on March 5, 2004 and whether payment was tendered by the purchaser by 5pm on that day notwithstanding that the vendor did not receive the fax notification of the funds transfer until after that time.

Anthony Kevin Peters (TW Fournier) and The Queen  (F Guy Kidd and C Inglis)

In a June 7 judgment Justices Peter Blanchard, Andrew Tipping and John McGrath dismissed an application by Mr Peters for leave to appeal against a pre-trial decision by the Court of Appeal under S379A of the Crimes Act 1961 allowing an appeal by the Solicitor General against a severance order and instead ordering a joint trial of Mr Peters and a co-accused on a murder charge.

Mr Peters (32) and Kylie Dianne Southon (36) were found guilty on May 27 by a Christchurch High Court jury of the shooting manslaughter of former Timaru Road Knights gang leader Ricky “Boof” Burnard in 2005. They were due for sentencing on July 6.

Mr Peters, who claimed at his trial that the prosecution could not prove he was at the killing scene, wanted a separate trial.

Mr Peters’ argued that where it was not the accused but the Crown which chose to take the matter to the Court of Appeal and was successful, an accused had not yet exercised any right of appeal under S379A.

The judges presumed Mr Peters would also have to say that where the accused succeeded in the Court of Appeal in overturning a pre-trial ruling, the prosecutor still had the right to apply for leave to bring the matter to the Supreme Court.

Their Honours said such an interpretation was inconsistent with the language of S379A, particularly when it was read in the context of the entirety of Part 13 of the Crimes Act.

They said the interpretation received no support concerning the policy of the statutory scheme for pre-trial criminal appeals, which was to limit trial delay arising from the appeal process.

Section 379A provided for an appeal to the Court of Appeal or, alternatively, an appeal to the Supreme Court by leave.

Regardless of the outcome in the Court of Appeal, if that was the option chosen, it did not provide for any second appeal and the Supreme Court said it lacked jurisdiction to grant the appeal application.