Randell v McLachlain [2022] NSWDC 506

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Randell v McLachlain [2022] NSWDC 506 Hearing dates: 18 October 2022 Date of orders: 27 October 2022 Decision date: 27 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Plaintiff's concerns notice struck out; proceedings dismissed. (2) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings, with liberty to apply. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - plaintiff serves concerns notices for a publication on Facebook - defendant's solicitors seek further and better particulars - plaintiff commences proceedings - defendant brings an application for dismissal of the proceedings on the basis that the concerns notice is invalid - whether the particulars of serious harm were specified with sufficient particularity - whether the notice failed to specify a location where the matter could be accessed whether reasonable answers to a request for particulars had been provided - whether, if the concerns notice was valid, the statement of claim should be struck out for insufficient particularisation of serious harm and/or failure to provide particulars of downloading - proceedings struck out and dismissed Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) ss 3(d), 10A, 12A, 12B Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) rr 14.30 and 15.19 Cases Cited: Associated Newspapers Ltd v Dingle [1962] 2 All E R 737, [1964] AC 371 Banks v Cadwalladr [2022] EWHC 1417 (QB) Bazzi v Dutton [2022] FCFCA 84 Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick (2002) 210 CLR 575 Economou v De Freitas [2016] EWHC 1218 (QB) Inserve Australia Ltd & Ors v Kinane [2018] QCA 116 Jenman v McIntyre [2013] NSWSC 1100 Johnson v McArdle [2020] EWHC 644 (QB) Lachaux v Independent Print Limited [2016] QB 402 Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd; Lachaux v Evening Standard Ltd [2019] 4 All ER 485 Massarani v Kriz [2022] FCA 80 McCarey v Associated Newspapers Ltd (No 2) [1965] 2 QB 86 McDonald v Dods [2017] VSCA 129 Napag Trading Ltd v Gedi Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A [2020] EWHC 3034 (QB) Newman v Whittington [2022] NSWSC 249 Prospect Resources Ltd v Molyneux [2015] NSWCA 171 Rader v Haines [2022] NSWCA 198 Ruta v Department for Work and Pensions [2022] EWHC 1535 (QB) Scott v Jones & Anor [2002] NSWSC 210 Sims v Jooste (No 2) [2016] WASCA 83 Southern Cross Mine Management Pty Ltd v Ensham Resources Pty Ltd [2004] QSC 457 Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17 The Baptist Union of New South Wales v Georges River Council [2017] NSWSC 347. Toomey v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1985) 1 NSWLR 291 Wright v McCormack [2021] EWHC 2671 (QB) Zimmerman v Perkiss [2022] NSWDC 448 Texts Cited: Council of Attorneys-General Review of the Model Defamation Provisions - Background Paper, December 2019 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Mandi Randell Defendant: Karina McLachlain Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr N Olson Defendant: Mr T Smartt