O'Sullivan v Medical Tribunal of New South Wales

The applicant, Dr O'Sullivan, sought judicial review of a decision by the Medical Tribunal of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the Tribunal's refusal to recuse itself from an ongoing inquiry into Dr O'Sullivan's professional conduct. The application was heard by the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the Tribunal members, such that they ought to have recused themselves. This arose from the inadvertent provision of certain documents to one Tribunal member, which had been agreed to be excluded from evidence. Although the Tribunal members identified and looked at these documents before resolving not to take them into account, Dr O'Sullivan argued this created a perception of bias.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the summons, finding that the Tribunal members had acted appropriately. Their Honours reasoned that the Tribunal had taken prompt and effective steps to identify and exclude the prejudicial documents from its consideration. The Tribunal's clear resolution not to take the documents into account, coupled with the steps taken to ensure their exclusion, dispelled any reasonable apprehension of bias. The Court applied the principles of procedural fairness, emphasizing that the test for apprehended bias is an objective one, requiring a consideration of whether a fair-minded lay observer would apprehend bias.

The Court ordered that the summons be dismissed and that the applicant pay the costs of the Health Care Complaints Commission.