Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited [2000] NSWSC 688

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited [2000] NSWSC 688 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Common Law FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20223 of 1995; 20592 of 1996 HEARING DATE(S) : 14 July 2000 JUDGMENT DATE : 14 July 2000

JOHN MARSDEN (Plaintiff)

PARTIES : v

AMALGAMATED TELEVISION SERVICES PTY LIMITED (Defendant) JUDGMENT OF : Levine J at 1

M R Hall (Plaintiff)

COUNSEL : W H Nicholas Q.C. R Stitt Q.C. J S Wheelhouse (Defendant) Phillips Fox (Plaintiff) SOLICITORS : Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Defendant) CATCHWORDS : On admissibility of MFI 244 - T8314 DECISION : See paragraph 6

DLJT: 194 (Ex Tempore - Revised) [2000] NSWSC 688

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION DEFAMATION LIST No. 20223 of 1995 No. 20592 of 1996

JUSTICE DAVID LEVINE

FRIDAY 14 JULY 2000

JOHN MARSDEN (Plaintiff)

v

AMALGAMATED TELEVISION SERVICES PTY LIMITED ACN 000 145 246 (Defendant) JUDGMENT (On admissibility of MFI 244 - T8314) 1 HIS HONOUR: The plaintiff has tendered MFI 244, a Marsdens' file relating to a Mr Nguyen and the material in it, indicative of the attendance at Campbelltown District Court on 8 September 1995 by a Mr H Woods of the plaintiff's firm and the outcome of that attendance by Mr Woods in respect of that client. 2 MFI 244 was marked upon its deployment , during the re-examination of the plaintiff which was conducted without objection at pages 7666 and 7667. The re-examination at those places dealt with what Mr Barker stated as having been put to Mr Marsden in cross-examination, namely, that he appeared for Mr Nguyen in that Court on 8 September. (See 7666, line 56). 3 That end point is the end point of an evidentiary course which, in a sense, began at 6795.5 during examination-in-chief of the plaintiff. It is this area of evidence that has been the subject of much consideration, involving a distinction being drawn between matters going to whether in fact Mr Marsden was at Campbelltown Court at the relevant time in terms of Mr Stevens' evidence on the one hand and, on the other, more pertinently, whether the diaries indicated to Mr Marsden whether he was at Court. 4 It was the latter aspect that was pursued extensively in cross-examination by Mr Stitt to the point where the entry for the 8th of September 1995 was reached (T7590) and the diary became exhibit 223. 5 The Stevens matter and that component of it concerned with the question of whether or not Mr Marsden was seen at Campbelltown Court by Mr Stevens as asserted will be, no doubt, the subject of extensive submissions. 6 The re-examination to which I have referred enables, in my view, the admission into evidence of MFI 244 as exhibit GE. The balance of that file will be MFI 281 and returned to the plaintiff. ***********