Mills v The Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police [2020] NSWSC 277

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Mills v The Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police [2020] NSWSC 277 Hearing dates: 20 March 2020 Date of orders: 20 March 2020 Decision date: 20 March 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Schmidt AJ Decision: (1) The Local Court's decision of 22 October 2019 be set aside;

(2) The proceedings be remitted to the Local Court to be determined in accordance with law;

(3) The Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police pay Aubrey and Reece Mills' costs as agreed. Catchwords: COSTS – Order for payment of professional costs under s213 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW)

PROCEDURAL FAIRNESS – Primary judge decided the amount of the plaintiff's "just and reasonable costs" on bases which they were not given an opportunity to address – Common ground that this constituted a denial of procedural fairness

JUDICIAL REVIEW – Primary judge's decision resting on matters of which the plaintiffs were given no notice or opportunity to address involved a denial of procedural fairness amounting to jurisdictional error Legislation Cited: Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Supreme Court Act 1970 Cases Cited: Craig v South Australia (1995) 184 CLR 163; [1995] HCA 58 Dempsey v Director of Public Prosecutions [2019] NSWCA 267 Kirk v Industrial Court (NSW) (2010) 239 CLR 531; [2010] HCA 1 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Aubrey Robert Mills and Reece Anthony Mills (Plaintiff) Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Force (1st Defendant) Local Court of New South Wales (2nd Defendant) Representation: Counsel: M Castle (Plaintiff) R Coffey (1st Defendant