Goodwin v Commissioner of Police

The appeal concerned a claim by a police officer for an annual superannuation allowance, alleging injury sustained on duty. The primary judge had dismissed the claim, finding no link between traumatic events and the officer's injury. The Commissioner of Police was the respondent. The appeal was heard in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine several legal issues. These included whether findings made in a previous, overturned judgment gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias in the subsequent determination of the matter. The court also considered whether a complaint of apprehended bias must be dealt with before other grounds, and whether the absence of a reasonable apprehension of bias is a jurisdictional fact. Further issues involved whether the primary judge constructively failed to exercise jurisdiction by not dealing with critical issues for the claim, and whether there was an error in failing to make an affirmative finding of a link between traumatic events and injury, stemming from an error in making a negative finding. Finally, the court examined whether procedural fairness was denied by adopting an inconsistent conclusion or making a finding on a novel issue without notice to the appellant.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, setting aside the decision of the District Court. The court reasoned that the primary judge had made errors in relation to the critical issues of the claim, including potentially failing to exercise jurisdiction and issues of procedural fairness. The court found that the findings in the overturned judgment did give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias. Consequently, the matter was remitted to the District Court for reconsideration according to law. The respondent was ordered to pay the appellant's costs in the Court of Appeal, with the costs of the past and further hearings in the District Court to be dealt with by that court upon remittal.