Jones v Jackson (No 2) [2023] NSWDC 410

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Jones v Jackson (No 2) [2023] NSWDC 410 Hearing dates: 14 September 2023 Date of orders: 06 October 2023 Decision date: 06 October 2023 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Pursuant to s 10A of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), by reason of the plaintiff having failed to establish serious harm, these proceedings are struck out and dismissed. (2) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs, with liberty to apply. (3) Exhibits retained until further order. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – plaintiff's former de facto publishes Facebook comment saying the plaintiff, who had just received a sporting award, did not have the spirit of sport when it came to his personal life or telling the truth about his disability - preliminary ruling on "serious harm" – post read by a small number of persons - publication "not a numbers game" – no evidence any reader thought less of the plaintiff by reason of publication of the post – causation - no connection between matter complained of and other publications by third parties - plaintiff failed to prove publication of the post caused or was likely to cause serious harm to his reputation – proceedings dismissed with costs Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 10A Defamation Act 2013 (UK) c 26, s 1 Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) Cases Cited: Ames v Spamhouse Project Limited [2015] 1 WLR 3409 Bazzi v Dutton [2022] FCAFC 84 Dhir v Saddler [2017] EWHC 3155 (QB) Dingle v Associated Newspapers Ltd [1962] 2 All ER 737; [1964] AC 371 Economou v De Freitas [2016] EWHC 1218 (QB) Hun v Aljazeera International (Malaysia) SDN BHD [2023] FCA 1103 Jones v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 364 Jones v Jackson [2023] NSWDC 76 Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2020] AC 612 Mardas v New York Times Co [2009] EMLR 8 Perkins v Floradale Productions Pty Ltd & Ors (District Court of NSW, Walmsley SC DCJ, 28 May 2013, unreported) Rader v Haines [2022] NSWCA 198 Selkirk v Hocking (No 2) [2023] FCA 1085 Sims v Jooste (No 2) [2016] WASCA 83 Slipper v BBC [1991] 1 QB 283 Supaphien v Chaiyabarn [2023] ACTSC 240 Toomey v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1985) 1 NSWLR 291 Wen Yue He v Chinese Newspapers Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 253 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Stuart Jones (Plaintiff) Letitia Jackson (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr A Munro (Plaintiff) Ms M Harris (Defendant)