KEVIN WATERS V AUSTRALIA WIDE TOWING PTY LTD & ANOR [2002] NSWSC 533

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : KEVIN WATERS V AUSTRALIA WIDE TOWING PTY LTD & ANOR [2002] NSWSC 533 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20090 of 2002 HEARING DATE(S) : 11 June 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 14 June 2002

KEVIN WATERS (Plaintiff)

v PARTIES : AUSTRALIA WIDE TOWING PTY LTD (First Defendant)

BARRY LEWIS (Second Defendant) JUDGMENT OF : Levine J

J WHEELHOUSE (Plaintiff) COUNSEL : J GARNSEY QC (First and Second Defendants) BLESSINGTON JUDD (Plaintiff) SOLICITORS : CRICHTON-BROWNS (First and Second Defendants) CATCHWORDS : Imputations - capacity - form CASES CITED : Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd v Marsden [1998] 43 NSWLR 158 Mirror Newspapers v Harrison [1982] 149 CLR 293 DECISION : See paragraph 14

- 7 - DJL:1 [2002] nswsc 533 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION DEFAMATION list

JUSTICE DAVID LEVINE

FRIDAY 14 JUNE 2002

20090 OF 2002 KEVIN WATERS (Plaintiff)

v

AUSTRALIA WIDE TOWING PTY LTD & ANOR (Defendant)

JUDGMENT (Imputations – capacity – form) 1 The letter published on or about 8 February 2002 upon which the plaintiff sues is appended hereto. The plaintiff contends that the publication carries the following imputations defamatory of him: "(a) The plaintiff is a criminal; (b) The plaintiff is a thug; (c) The plaintiff has such a bad character that he is unsuitable to be an NRMA Towing Contractor; (d) The plaintiff was black-banned by NRMA Insurance and had his NRMA Road Service Contract taken away from him because he acted fraudulently; (e) The Blacktown Police suspect the plaintiff has engaged in criminal activity in relation to towing services; (f) The plaintiff threatened to shoot Barry Lewis if Barry Lewis did not stay out of the area where the plaintiff provided towing services; (g) The plaintiff arranged for an employee of Western smash Repairs, Mr Dennis Wilson, to be so seriously bashed he was lucky to escape with his life and now Mr Wilson is unable to work; (h) The plaintiff employs stand over merchants as tow truck drivers; (i) The plaintiff dishonestly obtained an NRMA Towing Contract because he colluded with members of a submitted-committee with the TTA".