Ritson v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Force

The appeal concerned an application for leave to appeal against a costs order made at first instance. The applicant, Ritson, had been unsuccessful in an application to set aside a previous costs order. The central dispute revolved around whether Ritson had been denied procedural fairness by not being afforded an opportunity to make submissions on costs at the initial hearing. The matter came before Gleeson JA and Emmett AJA of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The Court was required to determine whether the primary judge had made an arguable error in making the costs order without hearing submissions from the applicant. This involved considering the content and scope of the obligation of procedural fairness in court proceedings, particularly in circumstances where a party has not made submissions on costs at the first instance. The question was whether the failure to invite or allow such submissions constituted a denial of procedural fairness.

The Court found that the applicant had not been denied procedural fairness. It was held that the obligation of procedural fairness did not extend to requiring a court to invite submissions on costs from a party who had not sought to make them, especially when that party had been unsuccessful in their primary application. The Court reasoned that the applicant had had the opportunity to make submissions on costs but had not done so. Therefore, there was no arguable error on the part of the primary judge.

The summons seeking leave to appeal was dismissed, and the applicant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.