O'Shanassy v Turland (No 2) [2025] NSWDC 23

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: O'Shanassy v Turland (No 2) [2025] NSWDC 23 Hearing dates: 13 February 2025 Date of orders: 13 February 2025 Decision date: 13 February 2025 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Plaintiff's application for his Notice of Motion filed on 18 December 2024 to be determined by Judge Gibson is refused with costs. (2) Plaintiff's application for rulings pursuant to UCPR r 14.28 concerning s 26(1)(a) and (b) of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), as set out in the Notice of Motion filed on 18 December 2024, is stood over to the trial judge. (3) General access to packet S-19, being the documents produced by Westpac to subpoena issued on 18 December 2024. (4) Her Honour to provide reasons for decision and in the case of the subpoena argument, a timetable for the costs argument. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – jury trial fixed to commence on 7 March 2025 – application by plaintiff to challenge the contextual imputations on the basis that they did not differ in substance and, if separately conveyed, were incapable of "swamping" the plaintiff's imputations – whether application should be determined now or stood over to the trial – application stood over to the trial Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 98 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 26(1)(a) and (b) Environment Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), s 125(1) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 14.28, 42.20 Cases Cited: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175 Duma v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 2) [2021] FCA 1299 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Kermode (2011) 81 NSWLR 157; [2011] NSWCA 174 General Steel Industries Inc v Commissioner for Railways (NSW) (1964) 112 CLR 125; [1964] HCA 69 Greiss v Seven Network (Operations) Limited (No 2) [2024] FCA 98 McGrane v BTQ Channel 7 [2011] QSC 290 McGrane v Channel Seven Brisbane Pty Ltd [2012] QSC 133 Mohammed v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No 2) [2016] NSWSC 1365 Pettiona v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2019] FCA 1690 Plato Films Ltd v Speidel [1961] AC 1090 Seven Network (Operations) Limited v Greiss [2024] FCAFC 162 Woolf v Brandt [2023] NSWCA 290 Texts Cited: D K Rolph, Rolph on Defamation (2nd ed., 2024, Thomson Reuters) at 313 NSW Law Reform Commission, Defamation [1971] LRC 11 NSW Legislative Assembly, Defamation Bill Second Reading (Hansard), 27 February 1974 at 817, 819, 854 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Paul O'Shanassy (Plaintiff) Gary Turland (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr White SC with Mr A Flick (Plaintiff) Mr Sibtain SC with Mr T Senior (Defendant)