GONSALVES v DEBRECZINI [2003] NSWCA 22

New South Wales Court of Appeal

CITATION : GONSALVES v DEBRECZINI [2003] NSWCA 22 HEARING DATE(S) : 9 December 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 17 February 2003

JUDGMENT OF : Mason P at 1; Beazley JA at 40; Giles JA at 41 DECISION : Appeal upheld.

CATCHWORDS : Defamation - publication of defamatory material to clients of plaintiff real estate agency - judicial duty to disclose reasoning - where defendant denied responsibility for publication - whether sufficient evidence to base an inference that defendant published defamatory material. (ND) PARTIES : Dolores GONSALVES v Peter Lewis DEBRECZINI FILE NUMBER(S) : CA 40257/02 COUNSEL : Appellant: A Leopold Respondent: T Molomby SC / J Baxter SOLICITORS : Appellant: Greg Morahan & Co Respondent: Kalantzis Lawyers

LOWER COURT District Court JURISDICTION : LOWER COURT DC 4701/99 FILE NUMBER(S) : LOWER COURT Twigg DCJ JUDICIAL OFFICER :

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL CA 40257/02

MASON P BEAZLEY JA GILES JA

Monday 17 February 2003 Dolores GONSALVES v Peter Lewis DEBRECZINI

JUDGMENT

1 MASON P: An application for leave to appeal was heard concurrently with the appeal. 2 The opponent sued the claimant and her husband in the District Court for defamation. The claim succeeded against the claimant and damages were assessed at $50,000. The claim against Mr Gonsalves failed and there was a verdict for the defendant. In each instance costs followed the event. 3 Hereafter I shall refer to the opponent as the plaintiff and the claimant as the defendant. 4 The plaintiff is a licensed real estate agent and the owner of Clover Real Estate trading as The Professionals at Menai. 5 In January 1998 there was an incident which caused considerable distress to the defendant. She and her husband had been clients of the plaintiff, who was acting as their agent for sale. During the course of this transaction the plaintiff learned that Mr and Mrs Gonsalves were dealing directly with the vendor of a block of vacant land which they were anxious to secure in order to build a home. The plaintiff beat them to the contract, apparently "gazumping" his own clients. 6 In about January 1998, after she had been "gazumped", the defendant approached the plaintiff's sales manager, Ms Vicki Fisher, and told her: I will sue him. I will not stop at this and I'm going to tell everyone I know what he has done until I destroy him or close his business.