Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited [2000] NSWSC 752

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited [2000] NSWSC 752 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Common Law FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20223 of 1995; 20592 of 1996 HEARING DATE(S) : 28 July 2000 JUDGMENT DATE : 28 July 2000

JOHN MARSDEN (Plaintiff)

PARTIES : v

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

M R Hall (Plaintiff) COUNSEL : R Stitt Q.C. (Defendant) Phillips Fox (Plaintiff) SOLICITORS : Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Defendant) CATCHWORDS : On defendant's application for leave to issue a subpoena to the ABC re "The 7.30 Report" 20 July 2000 - T8486 DECISION : See paragraph 33-34

DLJT: 203 (Ex Tempore - Revised) [2000] NSWSC 752

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

JUSTICE DAVID LEVINE

FRIDAY 28 JULY 2000

JOHN MARSDEN (Plaintiff)

v

AMALGAMATED TELEVISION SERVICES PTY LIMITED ACN 000 145 246 (Defendant) JUDGMENT (On defendant's application for leave to issue a subpoena to the ABC re " The 7.30 Report" 20 July 2000 - T8486)

1 HIS HONOUR: This is an application by the defendant for leave to issue a subpoena. Its origins lie in the telecast by the ABC on 20 July of "The 7.30 Report". 2 On Wednesday of this week I declined to entertain the application in chambers by reason of its unusual nature, given the stage of the trial. The trial has concluded in terms of the evidence being complete, and directions have been given for the delivery of written submissions (19 July, [2000] NSWSC 711: DLJT 201). 3 For the purposes of determining the application and with the consent of the parties I have viewed again "The 7.30 Report" which I, by coincidence, happened to see at the time of its broadcast. The videotape, which I watched, will be MFI 287; it was prepared by the Media Monitoring Service for the Supreme Court. 4 During the adjournment I also had my associate download the transcript of the program from the ABC's website and that will be MFI 288. MFI 289 will be the following bundle of documents: an affidavit sworn 26 July 2000 by Mr Angus; the form of the subpoena in respect of which leave is sought; the draft form of order; a communication from Mallesons Stephen Jaques dated 26 July to the solicitors for the plaintiff; and a communication dated 27 July to the producer of the 7.30 Report and the head of the legal department of the ABC.