Ahern v Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd

The applicants, Ahern and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the District Court of New South Wales, which had dismissed their appeals against decisions of a costs assessment review panel. The dispute concerned the adequacy of the reasons provided by the review panel in determining the amount of costs payable in a costs assessment process and by whom those costs should be paid.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the District Court erred in finding that the reasons given by the costs assessment review panel were adequate, and whether this constituted a jurisdictional error or an error of law on the face of the record. Specifically, the court considered whether the review panel had applied the correct legal test for the adequacy of its reasons and whether it was required to determine a "fair and reasonable amount" of costs.

The Court of Appeal reasoned that the District Court had correctly applied the established legal principles regarding the adequacy of reasons in administrative decision-making. The court found that the reasons provided by the review panel, while perhaps not as detailed as the applicants might have preferred, were sufficient to disclose the essential reasoning process and the basis for its conclusions. The court held that the District Court did not err in law by finding the reasons adequate, nor did it commit a jurisdictional error or an error of law on the face of the record.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the summons filed on 3 August 2020 be dismissed, with costs.