King & Anor v Greenwood [2022] NSWDC 61

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: King & Anor v Greenwood [2022] NSWDC 61 Hearing dates: 9-10 March 2022 Date of orders: 15 March 2022 Decision date: 15 March 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 199 Catchwords: DEFAMATION – plaintiffs are publishers of local newspapers – defendant supplied labour services to plaintiffs as graphic designer until falling out with them – defendant published Facebook post and sent email to former person who supplied labouring services to the plaintiffs - whether plaintiffs identified - whether defamatory imputations conveyed – whether statutory defence of triviality applies – Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 33 - claim for damages – claim for permanent injunction – significance of defendant's undertaking Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss, 100, 101 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) ss 13, 33 - 36 District Court Act 1973 (NSW) s 46 Uniform Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) rr 14.14, 14.26, 14.30, 14.31, 15.21-15.30, 15.32, 28.2, 29.7 Cases Cited: Barrow v Bolt [2015] VSCA 107 Blatch v Archer (1774) 98 ER 969 Bristow v Adams [2012] NSWCA 166 Browne v Thompson [1912] SC 359 Carson v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1993) 178 CLR 44 Cerutti v Crestside [2016] 1 Qd R 89 Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd v Parras [2002] NSWCA 202 Chappell v Mirror Newspapers Ltd (1984) Aust Torts Rep 80-691 Ciccarelli v Cavasinni Developments [2004] NSWSC 788 David Syme & Canavan (1918) 25 CLR 234 David Syme & Co Ltd v Mather [1977] VR 516 Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1990) 21 NSWLR 135 Enders v Erbas & Associates Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 70 Fox v Boulter [2013] EWHC 1435 (QB) Hockey v Fairfax Media Publications (No.2) (2015) 237 FCR 127 Hughes v Mirror Newspapers Ltd (1985) 3 NSWLR 504 ICAC v Cunneen (2015) 256 CLR 1 Kostov v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2019] NSWCA 84 Kostov v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2018) 97 NSWLR 1073 Morosi v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1977] 2 NSWLR 749 Newman v Whittington [2022] NSWSC 249 Nobarani v Mariconte (2018) 265 CLR 236 Perkins v NSW Aboriginal Land Council (Unreported, SCNSW, 15/8/97) Planet Fisheries Pty Ltd v La Rosa (1968) 119 CLR 118 Preston v Commissioner for Fair Trading (2011) 80 NSWLR 359 R v Horne [1775–1802] All ER Rep 390 Rajski v Scitec Corporation Pty Ltd (NSWCA, 16 June 1986, Samuels JA) Rogers v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2003) 216 CLR 327 Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No 7) [2019] FCA 496 Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No.9) [2019] FCA 1383 Smith v Lucht [2016] QCA 267 Stead v Fairfax (2021) 387 ALR 123 Szanto v Melville [2011] VSC 574 Taylor v Nationwide News Ltd (No.2) [2022] FCA 149 Zoef v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2016] NSWCA 283 Texts Cited: Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mr C King (plaintiff) Mrs J King (plaintiff) Mr A Greenwood (defendant) Representation: Mr C King, in person Mr A Greenwood, in person Mrs J King did not appear File Number(s): 2021/00063201 Publication restriction: Nil