Ogawa v Stewart (No 2)

The applicant in this case, Ogawa, sought to disqualify Justice Rangiah from presiding over two matters, QUD325/2022 and QUD391/2022, on the basis of apprehended bias. The application was heard in the Federal Court of Australia, where the applicant argued that Justice Rangiah had an inherent bias due to his previous involvement in related legal proceedings. This bias, it was argued, would prevent him from fairly adjudicating the current cases.

The legal issue before the court was whether there was any reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Justice Rangiah that would necessitate his disqualification from the cases in question. The court had to consider the nature of Justice Rangiah's prior involvement, the extent to which it could be seen as influencing his impartiality, and whether any reasonable person in the position of the applicant might apprehend bias.

The court thoroughly examined the circumstances of Justice Rangiah's prior involvement in related legal matters and found that there was no reasonable apprehension of bias. The court concluded that the prior involvement did not create a situation where a fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend that the judge might not bring an impartial and unbiased mind to the resolution of the questions in the proceeding. Accordingly, the application for disqualification was dismissed. The court granted leave for the applicant to file an affidavit and adjourned the matter for a case management hearing.