Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Bowers v Judicial Commission of NSW (No 2) [2021] NSWCA 324 Hearing dates: 10 December 2021 Date of orders: 16 December 2021 Decision date: 16 December 2021 Before: Macfarlan JA; McCallum JA Decision: (1) Dismiss Mr Bowers' notice of appeal filed 16 August 2021. (2) No order as to costs of the purported appeal or the Judicial Commission's motion for its dismissal. (3) Dismiss Mr Bowers' application for leave to appeal with costs. Catchwords: APPEALS – leave to appeal – challenge to dismissal of summons seeking relief against the Judicial Commission – no arguable reason advanced for concluding that primary judgment erroneous – no prospects of success on an appeal – leave to appeal refused Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mr James Richard Bowers (Applicant) Judicial Commission of NSW (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Self-represented (Applicant) Mr D Farinha (Respondent) Solicitors: Crown Solicitor's Office (Respondent) File Number(s): 2021/233727; 2021/264783 Publication restriction: Nil Decision under appeal Court or tribunal: Supreme Court of New South Wales Jurisdiction: Common Law Citation: [2021] NSWSC 917 Date of Decision: 30 July 2021 Before: N Adams J File Number(s): 2021/88757 [Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.] Judgment 1. THE COURT: By a notice of appeal filed on 16 August 2021 Mr Bowers sought to challenge a decision of N Adams J of 30 July 2021 in James Bowers v Judicial Commission of NSW (No 2) [2021] NSWSC 917. By that judgment her Honour dismissed Mr Bowers' summons seeking relief against the Judicial Commission. 2. When the competence of his appeal was challenged, Mr Bowers filed a summons seeking leave to appeal. That summons came on for hearing on 10 December 2021 together with the Judicial Commission's motion for dismissal of the purported appeal as incompetent. 3. At the hearing (and in fact at an earlier date as well) Mr Bowers accepted that the purported appeal was incompetent and that it should be dismissed. The Judicial Commission does not seek costs. 4. Mr Bowers' application for leave to appeal should also be dismissed for the reasons given by N Adams J in her thorough judgment of 30 July 2021 for dismissing the summons Mr Bowers filed at first instance. Mr Bowers did not advance in this Court any arguable reason for concluding that that judgment was erroneous in any respect. It follows that any appeal by Mr Bowers would not have any prospects of success. 5. The Court makes the following orders: 1. Dismiss Mr Bowers' notice of appeal filed 16 August 2021. 2. No order as to costs of the purported appeal or the Judicial Commission's motion for its dismissal. 3. Dismiss Mr Bowers' application for leave to appeal with costs. ********** DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 16 December 2021