Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Application of Bar-Mordecai (No 2) [2014] NSWSC 1328 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 26 September 2014 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adams J Decision: Mr Bar-Mordecai is to pay the costs of the Attorney General and the Medical Council of New South Wales. Catchwords: COSTS - where applicant's conduct requires leave to be sought from the Court - general rule that applicant for leave pays the associated costs Category: Costs Parties: Michael Bar-Mordecai (Applicant) Attorney General of New South Wales (First interested party) Medical Council of New South Wales (Second interested party) Representation: Counsel: P Ginters (Second interested party) Solicitors: Self-represented (Applicant) Crown Solicitor's Office (First and second interested parties) File Number(s): 2013/270999 Judgment 1On 1 September 2014 I made orders granting conditional leave to Mr Bar-Mordecai enabling him to institute proceedings for review of the order removing his name from the register of medical practitioners. I reserved the question of costs and ordered the parties to make written submissions on the issue. 2As I pointed out in my judgment, the reason for Mr Bar-Mordecai's application to me was that, although he had previously obtained leave from another Judge of the Court to make his application to the Medical Tribunal, he had undertaken that application in a manner which constituted an abuse of the Tribunal's process, with the Deputy President ruling that he could not press his application without a further order from this Court. Mr Bar-Mordecai's conduct which resulted in this outcome arose from a patently contumelious refusal to comply with the conditions imposed on the earlier grant of leave. As I pointed out in my judgment, if he had not conducted himself in this way, the present application would not have been necessary. 3The general rule is that the applicant for leave will need to pay the costs associated with it. Here, given the history which I have related, it is obvious that Mr Bar-Mordecai should pay the costs of this application. That leaves the question whether he should pay the whole of the costs, given that the Attorney General and the Medical Council of New South Wales (as an interested person) sought the imposition of conditions on the grant of leave (which they did not, in principle, oppose) to some of which I did not accede which extended the time taken in Court to some degree. However, a hearing was inevitable at all events given the grounds proposed by Mr Bar-Mordecai for the application for reregistration. 4Mr Bar-Mordecai alleged that the Registrar was misled because he was told, when the matter was to be listed, that it would take a day instead of the something over an hour which it ultimately took. Mr Bar Mordecai described the Attorney General's solicitor as having "lied" in respect of this prediction. This is a scandalous and an entirely unjustified allegation reflecting, I regret to say, a consistent approach taken by Mr Bar-Mordecai in the multifarious litigation to which he has been a party. Mr Bar-Mordecai submitted that, because of this assessment, the hearing was delayed by more than five months, that therefore he lost the income he would otherwise have earned and hence his costs should be ordered to be paid and no order made that he should pay the costs of the other parties. I note that this submissions depends upon my accepting that he was likely to have had his registration restored, a prediction which is not supported by the evidence available to me. At all events, it seems to me that this is an irrelevant consideration. 5The material relied on by Mr Bar-Mordecai, as I pointed out in the primary judgment, contained scandalous and irrelevant allegations akin to those he has made on a number of earlier occasions. Furthermore, the proposed grounds of his renewed application to the Tribunal contained an entirely inappropriate matter. 6Although the Court has a power to make orders for costs in relation to different issues where the successful party has not been entirely successful, it is not appropriate to exercise it in this case given the necessity for the responding parties to appear and their success in obtaining a condition for leave to which Mr Bar-Mordecai had not consented. 7Accordingly, I order Mr Bar-Mordecai to pay the costs of the Attorney General and the Medical Council of New South Wales. ********** 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: 29 September 2014