Burrows v Houda [2020] NSWDC 485

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Burrows v Houda [2020] NSWDC 485 Hearing dates: 20 August 2020 Date of orders: 20 August 2020 Decision date: 27 August 2020 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: Orders: (1) Imputations 6(b) and (10(b) struck out with leave to replead as "the plaintiff so misconducted herself during a court case that the judge recommended that she be referred for possible disciplinary action". (2) Pursuant to Uniform Civil Procedure Rules r 28.2, imputations 10(c), (d) and (e) are reasonably capable of being conveyed. (3) The plaintiff have leave to file an amended statement of claim in 7 days containing the following amendments: (a) Imputations 6(b) and 10(b) as repleaded; (b) Typographical corrections to imputation 10(c) and paragraphs 11 and 13; (c) Additional particulars of aggravated damages; (d) The particulars of publication as set out in Mr Rasmussen's submissions; and (e) Attaching a USB containing coloured scanned copies of the Twitter posts which are pleaded to be the matters complained of. (4) Defendant pay plaintiff's costs of the application. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – capacity of imputations – emoticons and emoji - meaning of "zipper-mouth face" emoji Legislation Cited: Practice Note 6 (District Court Defamation List) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 ("UCPR") rr 15.19, 28.2 Cases Cited: Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Voller [2020] NSWCA 102 AvePoint, Inc. v. Power Tools, Inc 981 F. Supp. 2d 496 (W.D. Va. 2013). Bolton v Stoltenberg [2018] NSWSC 1518 Brose v Balauskas [2020] QDC 15 Corby v Alan & Unwin Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 227 Dell'Olio v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2011] EWHC 3472 Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick (2002) 210 CLR 575; (2002) 194 ALR 433; (2002) 77 ALJR 255 Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1990) 21 NSWLR 135 Favell v Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd (2005) 79 ALJR 1716 Hockey v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited & Ors (No 2) (2015) 237 FCR 127; [2015] FCA 750 Houston -v- Barniville & ors; Houston -v- Geoghegan & ors; Houston -v- The General Council of The Bar of Ireland; Houston -v- The General Council of The Bar of Ireland; Houston -v- O'Neill [2019] IEHC 601 Church v MGN Limited [2012] 1 WLR 284 Gould v Jordan [2020] FCA 1191 Joukhador v Network Ten Pty Limited [2020] FCA 746 Loder v Bolton [2020] NSWCA 45 Lord McAlpine of West Green v Bercow [2013] EWHC 1342 Monroe v Hopkins [2017] EWHC 433 Nationwide News v Hibbert [2015] NSWCA 13 Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 Sube and another v News Group Newspapers Ltd and another [2018] EWHC 1234 The School for Excellence Pty Ltd v Trendy Rhino Pty Ltd [2018] VSC 514 Trkulja v Google LLC (2018) 263 CLR 149 Texts Cited: Defamation Costs Working Group 2013: Final Report Professor E Goldman, "Emoji Law 2018 Year-in-Review" R Smyth, "What do Trial Judges Cite?", Evidence from the New South Wales District Court" [2018] UNSWLawJl 9 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Zali Burrows Defendant: Adam Houda Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr R Rasmussen Defendant: Mr T B Senior