GRC Project Pty Ltd trading as GRC Property Management v Lai [2023] NSWDC 63

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: GRC Project Pty Ltd trading as GRC Property Management v Lai [2023] NSWDC 63 Hearing dates: 20 March 2023 Date of orders: 23 March 2023 Decision date: 23 March 2023 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Defendant's application for the serious harm element in the plaintiffs' defamation claim to be determined before the trial is refused on the basis that the plaintiffs have established special circumstances conformably with s 10A(5) of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW). (2) Defendant pay plaintiffs' costs, with liberty to apply in relation both to costs and a timetable for the further conduct of these proceedings. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – plaintiffs bring proceedings for defamation and misleading or deceptive conduct for seven slanders and an email - defendant seeks early hearing of the serious harm element of the plaintiffs' defamation claim pursuant to s 10A(5) of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) – whether plaintiffs can establish "special circumstances" warranting deferral of serious harm to the trial Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 86 Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), s 6 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 10A, 21 Cases Cited: Ahmed v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2010] NSWDC 183 Alexander-Theodotu v Kounis [2019] EWHC 956 (QB) Ames v The Spamhaus Project Ltd [2015] EWHC 127 (QB) Brown v Bower and another [2017] EWHC 1388 (QB) Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd v Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells [2011] NSWCA 246 Cush v Dillon; Boland v Dillon (2011) 243 CLR 298 Edwards v Gillespie [2020] NSWDC 475 Gatto v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2021] VSC 83 Gorczynski v Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd [2016] NSWCA 170 Harcombe v Associated Newspapers and another; Kendrick v Associated Newspapers and another [2022] EWHC 543 (QB) High Quality Jewellers Pty Ltd (ACN 119 428 394) & Ors v Ramaihi (Ruling) [2022] VCC 1924 Hossein v Ali (Ruling) [2022] VCC 2195 Jones v Sutton (No 2) [2005] NSWCA 203 Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1334; [2018] QB 594 Murdoch v Private Media Pty Ltd (No 4) [2023] FCA 114 Newman v Whittington [2022] NSWSC 249 Pastoral Investment Land & Loan Pty Ltd v Central Coast Council [2020] NSWLEC 85 R v Commonwealth Rent Controller (1947) 75 CLR 361 Ryan v Random House Australia Pty Ltd [2015] NSWDC 31 Sarina v O'Shannassy [2019] FCCA 732 Scott v Bodley [2022] NSWDC 459 Scott v Bodley (No 2) [2022] NSWDC 651 Stead v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2021] FCA 15 Tedja & Sony [2017] FamCAFC 121 The Sydney Cosmetic Specialist Clinic Pty Ltd (ACN 151 319 032) v Hu [2020] NSWDC 786 The Sydney Cosmetic Specialist Clinic Pty Ltd v Hu [2022] NSWCA 1 Trkulja v Google LLC (2018) 263 CLR 149; [2018] HCA 25 Wilks v Qu (Ruling 2) [2022] VCC 1503 Wilks v Qu (Ruling) [2022] VCC 620 Zimmerman v Perkiss [2022] NSWDC 448 Texts Cited: "Controlling the Costs of Defamation Cases," United Kingdom Ministry of Justice, 29 November 2018 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: GRC Project Pty Ltd trading as GRC Property Management (first plaintiff) Christine Ng (second plaintiff)