Scott v Bodley (No 2) [2022] NSWDC 651

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Scott v Bodley (No 2) [2022] NSWDC 651 Hearing dates: 19 December 2022 Date of orders: 22 December 2022 Decision date: 22 December 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Pursuant to the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 28.2, the plaintiff has failed to establish serious harm to reputation as required under s 10A of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) and the proceedings are dismissed.

(2) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings, with liberty to apply. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - one-star review posted on plaintiff's Google and Facebook business pages for a period of 14 days - whether plaintiff has established "serious harm" conformably with s 10A of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 10A Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 144 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 28.2 Cases Cited: Alexander-Theodotu v Kounis [2019] EWHC 956 (QB) Banks v Cadwalladr [2022] EWHC 1417 (QB) De Kauwe v Cohen (No 4) [2022] WASC 35 Defteros v Google Inc [2020] VSC 324 Dhir v Saddler [2018] 4 WLR 1 El-Mouelhy v Q-Society of Australia Inc (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 990 Gatto v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2022] HCATrans 197 George v Cannell [2021] EWHC 2988 (QB) High Quality Jewellers Pty Ltd & Ors v Ramaihi (Ruling) [2022] VCC 2240 High Quality Jewellers Pty Ltd (ACN 119428394) & Ors v Ramaihi (Ruling) [2022] VCC 1924 Massarani v Kriz [2022] FCA 80 Massoud v Nationwide News Pty Ltd; Massoud v Fox Sports Australia Pty Ltd [2022] NSWCA 150 Newman v Whittington [2022] NSWSC 259 Rader v Haines [2022] NSWCA 198 Ryan v Random House Australia Pty Ltd [2015] NSWDC 31 Scott v Bodley [2022] NSWDC 459 Settlers Estate Pty Ltd v Penrith City Council [2021] NSWCA 13 Sims v Jooste (No 2) [2016] WASCA 83 Srecko and David Lorbek v Peter King [2022] VSC 218 Stead v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2021] FCA 15 Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17 Trkulja v Google LLC [2018] HCA 25; (2018) 92 ALJR 619 Zimmerman v Perkiss [2022] NSWDC 448 Texts Cited: M Whitbourn,"Push for overhaul of national defamation laws to weed out 'trivial' claims", Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 2019 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Dale Scott (plaintiff) Bettina Bodley (defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr N Olson (plaintiff) Mr T Senior (defendant)