Vajda v John Fairfax Publications P/L [2001] NSWSC 306

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Vajda v John Fairfax Publications P/L [2001] NSWSC 306 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Common Law Division Defamation List FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 21014/95 HEARING DATE(S) : 20/04/01 JUDGMENT DATE : 30 April 2001

PARTIES : Tibor Timothy Vajda (Pl) John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited (Def) JUDGMENT OF : Kirby J

COUNSEL : T Molomby (Pl) T Blackburn (Def) SOLICITORS : Bertock & Associates (Pl) Freehills (Def) CATCHWORDS : Defamation - Capacity of Imputations to arise - Defects in form Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1990) 21 NSWLR 135 CASES CITED : Whelan v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1988) 12 NSWLR 148 Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd v Marsden (1998) 43 NSWLR 158 Singleton v French (1986) 5 NSWLR 425 DECISION : Ref para 36

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION DEFAMATION LIST

KIRBY J

Monday 30 April 2001

21014/95 - TIBOR TIMOTHY VAJDA -v- JOHN FAIRFAX PUBLICATIONS PTY LIMITED

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: An action for defamation has been commenced by Tibor Timothy Vajda (the plaintiff) against John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited (the defendant), the publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The plaintiff complains that he was defamed by articles which appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on the same day, 27 March 1993. The articles were in similar terms, although there were differences to which I will later refer. A Statement of Claim was issue in 1995. A further Amended Statement of Claim was filed on 30 March 2001. 2 Each of the articles is long. It is unnecessary to reproduce them in full. The Sydney Morning Herald Article had a large headline (accompanied by photographs) which was in these terms: "MY NEIGHBOUR MY TORTURER" 3 Immediately below the headline, in a type face larger than the text, there was the following summary of the story: "In 1951 Magda Bardy and her husband, Istvan, were arrested, jailed and tortured by the Hungarian communist regime. Magda survived; Istvan did not. For years Magda has searched for the truth about her husband's fate. Instead, she found the man who was her torturer - in Australia, living almost next door. Sandra Harvey chronicles a story of pain, courage and chance." 4 The plaintiff is identified by the article as the interrogator of Magda Bardy. The opening paragraph is in these terms: "Magda Bardy studied the face. He was older, of course, more fleshy and his hair was white. But the eyes - she could never forget them, the eyes of the man who had almost destroyed her." 5 Counsel for the plaintiff has, helpfully, included in written submissions the assertions made by the articles which form the foundation for the imputations upon which the plaintiff relies. They are as follows: