Berry v Medical Tribunal of NSW & Anor

In *Berry v Medical Tribunal of NSW & Anor*, the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered whether a member of the Medical Tribunal was disqualified from sitting on a disciplinary proceeding. The applicant, Dr Berry, sought to challenge the validity of the Tribunal's decision on the grounds that one of its members had a conflict of interest.

The central legal issue before the Court was the interpretation of section 11(1)(c) of the *Medical Practice Act 1985* (NSW), which disqualifies a Tribunal member from sitting if they have "previously dealt with the particular matter". The Court had to determine the meaning of "matter" in this context and whether the member's prior involvement constituted "dealing with" the matter in a way that would trigger the disqualification.

The Court reasoned that the phrase "previously dealt with the particular matter" referred to a prior judicial or quasi-judicial determination of the substantive issues in dispute. It was not sufficient for a member to have had some tangential involvement or to have made preliminary procedural decisions. In this instance, the member's prior involvement, which consisted of making an interlocutory order regarding the disclosure of documents, did not amount to having "dealt with the particular matter" in the sense contemplated by the legislation. Therefore, the member was not disqualified from sitting on the Tribunal.

The summons was dismissed with costs.