Australia, Aug. 2 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 2:

1. These are proceedings for costs brought by the Health Care Complaints Commission ("the Commission") against Dr Jesse Robert Thurlow ("the Practitioner"). The Practitioner opposes the orders sought by the Commission and seeks different orders.

2. At Trial the Respondent requested that the issue of costs be dealt with at the conclusion of the proceedings when the Tribunal's verdict became known. As a consequence both the Commission and the Practitioner have caused submissions to be filed directed to that issue.

3. However, before turning to deal with those submissions it should be noted that the submissions from Counsel for the Practitioner are dated 21 August 2024. For reasons that do not need to be discussed in this judgment, those submissions were unfortunately not filed or brought to the Commission's attention until 26 March 2025. For that reason a direction was made by the Tribunal to facilitate further submissions but, more particularly, submissions to be filed on behalf of the Commission. Those submissions were filed on 14 April 2025.

ORDERS SOUGHT

4. The Commission seeks orders that the Practitioner pay its costs, including with respect to the issue of costs now before the Tribunal. Conversely, it is submitted on behalf of the Practitioner that he should obtain either "a portion of his costs or, in the alternative, that each party should bear their own costs". The submissions on behalf of the Commission dated 14 April 2025 will be marked as an aide memoire "A1" and the submissions on behalf of the Practitioner dated 21 August 2024 will also be admitted as an aide memoire and marked "R1".

BACKGROUND

5. The facts and circumstances leading to the findings and orders made are set out in the Tribunal's principal Judgment [1] . Those orders were in the following terms:

1) That pursuant to s 149C(4)(a), if the Respondent was still registered the Tribunal would have cancelled his registration.

2) That pursuant to s 149C(4)(b) the Respondent is disqualified from being registered for a period of (one) year from the date of this order.

3) That pursuant to s 149C(4)(c) the National Board record the fact that, if the Practitioner was still registered the Tribunal would have cancelled his registration in the National Register kept by the Board.

4) That any submission on behalf of the Practitioner with respect to the issue of costs be filed and served within 14 days from the date of these orders and any additional submissions or submissions in response to the submissions filed by the Practitioner be filed by the Health Care Complaints Commission within a further 14 days thereafter.

6. The Practitioner will be able to reapply for registration in a little over a month's time.

DISCUSSION

7. Clause 13 of Schedule 5D to the National Law empowers the Tribunal to order costs. Whether or not an order for costs is to be made is a matter left to the discretion of the Tribunal. However, the general rule is that costs follow the event [2] . Counsel for the Commission contends at paragraph 10 of his submissions that that general presumption "will generally be displaced only where there has been some 'disentitling conduct' by that party." The Tribunal agrees.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197c44a5ee0fe8b8cce65a2f)

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