The state's highest court has rebuked a Sydney judge for reading aloud an epic 17-hour judgment over four days, costing taxpayers and the parties thousands of dollars in court and legal fees.

District Court Judge Garry Neilson – who courted controversy in 2015 after making comments about incest, paedophilia and homosexuality – raised the ire of two Court of Appeal judges for delivering a lengthy judgment on the bench rather than publishing written reasons.

District Court Judge Garry Neilson in 2015. Credit:Fairfax

Justice Ruth McColl, the acting president of the Court of Appeal, said Judge Neilson read aloud a 138-page judgment over four days in a Sydney courtroom last year after hearing a six-day negligence case in Wagga Wagga in May.

The case concerned a man who sued for compensation after he was thrown from a horse which bucked after a car drove past.