Massarani v Kriz [2020] NSWCA 252

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Massarani v Kriz [2020] NSWCA 252 Hearing dates: 2 July 2020 Decision date: 13 October 2020 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Leeming JA at [2]; McCallum JA at [3] Decision: (1) Dismiss the application for leave to appeal from the judgment in the District Court; (2) Order the applicant to pay the respondents' costs of the application. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – application for leave to appeal from decision dismissing action for defamation summarily – contest as to basis for primary judge's decision – whether proposed appeal provided the occasion for appellate consideration of the decision in Bleyer v Google Inc – where pleading admittedly deficient – relevance of considerations of proportionality to discretion to grant leave to replead Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 60, 61, 64, 67 District Court Act 1973 (NSW), ss 127(2) Limitation Act 1969 (NSW), s 14B Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 13.4(1)(b), 14.28 Cases Cited: Armstrong v McIntosh (No 2) [2019] WASC 379 Bleyer v Google Inc (2014) 88 NSWLR 670; [2014] NSWSC 897 El-Mouelhy v Qsociety of Australia Inc (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 990 Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2017) 95 NSWLR 612; [2017] NSWCA 246 Feldman v The Daily Beast Company LLC [2017] NSWSC 831 Fox v Channel Seven Adelaide Pty Ltd (No 2) [2020] SASC 180 Garrard (t/as Arthur Anderson & Co) v Email Furniture Pty Ltd (1993) 32 NSWLR 662 GG Australia Pty Ltd v Sphere Projects Pty Ltd (No 2) [2017] FCA 664 Ghosh v NineMSN Pty Ltd (2015) 90 NSWLR 595; [2015] NSWCA 334 Jaycar Pty Limited v Lombardo [2011] NSWCA 284 Khalil v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No 2) [2018] NSWDC 126 Lazarus v Azize [2015] ACTSC 344 Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302 Toben v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2016) 93 NSWLR 639; [2016] NSWCA 296 Toomey v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1985) 1 NSWLR 291 Watney v Kencian [2017] QCA 116 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Patrick Massarani (Applicant) Georgia Kriz (First Respondent) Ilya Klauzner (Second Respondent) Representation: Counsel: A Morris QC, N Li (Applicant) B McClintock SC, L Saunders (First Respondent) B McClintock SC, T Senior (Second Respondent)