Scott v Bodley [2022] NSWDC 459

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Scott v Bodley [2022] NSWDC 459 Hearing dates: 6 October 2022 Date of orders: 10 October 2022 Decision date: 10 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: Order: (1) Defendant's application for the serious harm element to be determined before the trial for the proceedings commences is granted; plaintiff's application to defer this to the trial refused. (2) Plaintiff pay defendant's costs, with liberty to apply. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - application pursuant to s 10A(5) Defamation Act 2005 for the serious harm element of the plaintiff's claim to be determined before the trial - whether separate determination of issues should be seen as an "exceptional course" - whether there was a need to identify a clearly severable question - whether there was a possibility of inconsistent credit and quantum issues - whether the nature and extent of the evidence was suitable for a separate hearing - s 10A(6) factors of costs, resources and overlap - whether special circumstances warranted the refusal of the application - whether the defendant should be required to file a defence prior to this issue being determined - defendant's application for the serious harm element of the plaintiff's claim to be determined separately before trial granted Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss 56 and 62(2) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) s 10A(5) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 28.2 Cases Cited: Alexander-Theodotu v Kounis [2019] EWHC 956 Ames v The Spamhaus Project Ltd [2015] EWHC 127 (QB) Andrews v John Fairfax & Sons Limited (1980) 2 NSWLR 225 Bindel v PinkNews Media Group [2021] EWHC 1868 (QB) Brown v Bower and another [2017] EWHC 1388 (QB) Harcombe v Associated Newspapers and another; Kendrick v Associated Newspapers and another [2022] EWHC 543 (QB) Haviland v The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency Ltd and another [2022] EWHC 1688 (QB) J Annan v FSS Trustee Corporation [2017] NSWSC 1453 Mohamed Ali Harrath v Stand For Peace Ltd [2016] EWHC 665 (QB) Mueen-Udin v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 3026 (QB) Newman v Whittington [2022] NSWSC 249 Parris v Ajayi and others [2021] EWHC 285 (QB) Rader v Haines [2022] NSWCA 198 Reid v Hartcher [2017] NSWSC 1274 Sims v Jooste (No 2) [2016] WASCA 83 Spirits International BV v Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojusplodoimport [2011] FCAFC 69 Todd Hadley Pty Limited v Lake Maintenance (NSW) Pty Limited [2019] NSWCA 262 Wilks v Qu (Ruling 2) [2022] VCC 1503 Wilks v Qu (Ruling) [2022] VCC 620 Zimmerman v Perkiss [2022] NSWDC 448 Texts Cited: "The Modernisation of Access to Justice in Times of Austerity", The Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President of Tribunals Shane Bazzi, "Peter Dutton suing me for defamation almost ruined me – and it could happen to anyone", the Guardian, 8 October 2022 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Dale Scott Defendant: Bettina Bodley Representation: Counsel: Mr N Olson (Plaintiff) Mr T Senior (Defendant)