Gan v Zadravic [2021] NSWDC 533

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Gan v Zadravic [2021] NSWDC 533 Hearing dates: 23 September 2021 Date of orders: 7 October 2021 Decision date: 07 October 2021 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: Order: (1) Defendant's application for summary dismissal of these proceedings pursuant to UCPR rr 13.4(1)(c) and 14.28 is dismissed. (2) Pursuant to UCPR r 28.2, imputations (i) – (iii) are reasonably capable of being conveyed. (3) Defendant's challenges to the form of imputations (i) – (iii) dismissed. (4) Defendant pay plaintiff's costs. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – Facebook post claiming the plaintiff had not paid his employees superannuation - whether action liable to be stayed or dismissed as an abuse of process on the grounds that the legal costs and court resources required to determine the claim will be out of all proportion to the interest at stake – challenge to form and capacity of imputations Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) s 33 Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992 The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (UK) UCPR r 28.2 Cases Cited: Alexandrov v Dimovski [2005] NSWDC 19 Armstrong v McIntosh (No 2) [2019] WASC 379 Armstrong v McIntosh (No 4) [2020] WASC 31 Asbog Veterinary Services Pty Ltd v Barlow [2020] QDC 112 Bleyer v Google Inc (2014) 88 NSWLR 670 Corby v Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 227 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Etherington [2016] NSWCATOD 31 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Kingston [2014] NSWCATOD 21 Cumberland v Clark (1996) 39 NSWLR 514 Defteros v Google [2021] VSCA 167 Desfosses v Martinson [2018] WASC 114 Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1990) 21 NSWLR 135 Duke of Brunswick v Harmer (1849) 4 QB 185 Duke of Brunswick v The King of Hanover: HL 31 Jul 1948 Ewing v Times Newspapers Ltd [2011] NIQB 63 Ghosh v NineMSN Pty Ltd [2015] NSWCA 334; 90 NSWLR 595 Goldsmith v Sperrings Limited [1977] 1 WLR 478 Grizonic v Suttor [2008] NSWSC 914 Habib v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 231 Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2005] All ER (D) 43 (Feb); [2005] EWCA Civ 75; [2005] QB 946; [2005] 2 WLR 1614; [2005] EMLR 353 Jones v Sutton [2004] NSWCA 439; 61 NSWLR 614 King & Mergen Holdings Pty Ltd v McKenzie (1991) 24 NSWLR 305 Kostov v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 858; (2018) 97 NSWLR 1073 Lesses v Maras [2017] SASFC 48; (2017) 128 SASR 292 Lucasfilm Ltd and Others v Ainsworth and Another: [2011] UKSC 39; [2012] 1 AC 208 Massarani v Kriz [2020] NSWCA 252 Noone v Brown [2019] QDC 133 O'Dwyer v Chief Constable of the RUC [1997] NI 403 Roy Morgan Research Pty Limited v Commissioner of Taxation [2011] HCA 35 Schellenberg v British Broadcasting Corporation [2000] EMLR 296 Sherman v Lamb [2021] QDC 192 Sim v Stretch [1936] 2 All E R 1237 Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302 Smith v Lucht [2016] QCA 267 Theodore Skalkos & Anor v Joseph Assaf & Anor [2002] NSWCA 14; (2002) Aust Torts Reports 81-644 Thornton v Telegraph Media Group Limited [2011] 1 WLR 1985; [2011] EWHC 1414 (QB) Wallis v Valentine [2002] All ER (D) 275 (Jul); [2002] EWCA Civ 1034; [2003] EMLR 175 Victoria International Container Terminal Limited v Lunt (2021) 388 ALR 376 Watney v Kencian & Anor [2017] QCA 116 Texts Cited: Defamation Amendment Bill 2020, Second Reading Speech, New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 29 July 2020: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/'HANSARD-1323879322-111420 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Stuart Gan Defendant: Anthony Zadravic Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr J Levine Defendant: Mr A Munro