Gilbert v Catholic Education Office & Ors [2003] NSWSC 766

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Gilbert v Catholic Education Office & Ors [2003] NSWSC 766 HEARING DATE(S) : 18 August 2003 JUDGMENT DATE : 18 August 2003

JUDGMENT OF : Simpson J DECISION : leave granted to the plaintiff to amend paragraphs 3(b) and 5 of the statement of claim by inserting in the imputations lettered (b) and (d), in each case, the word "wrongful" before the word "sexual"; imputation (a) is capable of being conveyed; imputation (c) is capable of being conveyed; the matter complained of is, in each case, capable of conveying imputations (b) and (d); defendant to pay two thirds of the costs of the plaintiff; leave granted to plaintiff to amend the third further amended statement of claim by correctly identifying the first defendant

CATCHWORDS : defamation - third further amended statement of claim - costs Michael Gilbert - Plaintiff PARTIES : Catholic Education Office - 1st Defendant Margaret Hilder - 2nd Defendant State of New South Wales - 4th Defendant FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20877/01 COUNSEL : CA Evatt - Plaintiff Lynch - 4th Defendant SOLICITORS : Friend & Co - Plaintiff IV Knight - 4th Defendant

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

SIMPSON J

Monday 18 August 2003

20877/01 Michael Gilbert v Catholic Education Office and Ors

JUDGMENT 1 HER HONOUR: I will grant leave to the plaintiff to amend paragraphs 3B and 5 of the statement of claim by inserting in the imputations lettered (b) and (d) in each case, the word "wrongful" before the word "sexual". 2 That having been done, I will make my rulings. 3 By third further amended statement of claim, filed on 27 June 2003, the plaintiff has joined, as fourth defendant, the State of New South Wales, to proceedings already commenced against the Catholic Education Office, and a Ms Margaret Hilder (there having been apparently, a third defendant who has disappeared from the statement of claim) in relation to the publication of allegedly defamatory imputations contained in annexures A and B to the statement of claim. The two publications are in substantially similar terms and are said to have been published orally by the State of New South Wales through the Department of Education and Training and the New South Wales Police Service respectively. They are also in substantially similar (though not identical) terms to Annexure C, which, the plaintiff pleads, contains defamatory imputations published orally by the first and second defendants. 4 The contents of the annexures amount to a warning involving assertions that reports had been received of two vehicles loitering near a number of primary and secondary schools and of a man trying to entice school children to go with him. That is followed by a description of the vehicle and the man, and then there is an assertion that the man, on one occasion, identified himself as being from "Motor Cross Magazine" and invited a secondary school boy to be involved with some of his mates in a photo shoot which would also involve some girls to be provided by the man. The man is also said to have followed a primary school boy on the way home from school. 5 The plaintiff pleads that four imputations are conveyed by each of the publications. These are: (a) The plaintiff is a child molester;