Hennessy v Lynch [2006] NSWDC 26

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Hennessy v Lynch [2006] NSWDC 26

HEARING DATE(S): 18/9/06

JUDGMENT DATE: 27 September 2006

JUDGMENT OF: Gibson DCJ

DECISION: The provisions of the Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) apply to all causes of action pleaded in these proceedings.

CATCHWORDS: PRACTICE & PROCEDURE - DEFAMATION - Proceedings arising from three publications where two causes of action accrued under the Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) and one under the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) - interpretation of Defamation Act 2005 Schedule 4 Clause 2 - whether the Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) or the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) should apply to all actions where there was publication of substantially the same matter on separate occasions.

LEGISLATION CITED: Defamation Act 1974 (NSW): s7a, 9, Defamation Act 2005 (NSW): s8, Sch 4 cl 2

CASES CITED: Habib v Nationwide News [2006] NSWCA 14

PARTIES: Paul James Hennessy (plaintiff), John Lynch (defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S): 2288/06

COUNSEL: J Young (Plaintiff) R Weaver (Defendant)

SOLICITORS: Shaw McDonald Higgins & Higgins

JUDGMENT

1 The plaintiff by way of Ordinary Statement of Claim filed on 26 May 2006 commenced proceedings for defamation for three oral publications. The text of each of the statements made by the defendant was set out in the Statement of Claim as follows: (a) On or about 14 October 2002 the defendant telephoned an employee of the plaintiff, Mr Hasler, and said words to the effect "Hennessy has been made bankrupt and he has not been able to get credit at some business houses in Bathurst … you have no ethics working for Hennessy and you would work for Osama Bin Laden". (b) On or about 18 December 2005 the defendant said to Mr Hasler "if you work for Hennessy you would work for Osama Bin Laden. You know that Hennessy is a former bankrupt". (c) On or about 26 March 2006 the defendant said to Mr Hasler words to the effect "that fellow Hennessy you work for is a former bankrupt. You must have your head in the sand if you don't know he was bankrupted about ten years ago … Hennessy's credit was cut off at Sid Newham's and Fish and Co. Where does Hennessy deal now?"