Tothill and Crowther (No 2)

In *Tothill and Crowther (No 2)*, the mother applied for the Honourable Justice Hannam to recuse himself from further hearing an interim parenting matter. The application was based on an apprehension of bias.

The central legal issue before the court was whether there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the judge, requiring his disqualification from the proceedings. This involved the application of the well-established two-step test for determining apprehended bias in judicial decision-making.

Justice Hannam applied the two-step test, which requires the court to first identify the facts and circumstances that might give rise to the apprehension of bias, and then determine whether a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered those facts and circumstances, would conclude that the judge was not impartial. After considering the evidence and submissions, the judge found that the mother had not established a sufficient basis to warrant recusal.

Consequently, the mother’s application that Justice Hannam recuse himself from further hearing the matter was dismissed.