Holt v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 968

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Holt v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 968 Hearing dates: 17 August 2012 Decision date: 23 August 2012 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adamson J Decision: Order the defendants to pay half of the plaintiff's costs of the proceedings on a party/ party basis. Catchwords: COSTS - costs under the Defamation Act 2005 s 40 - differential costs orders - considerations relevant to the exercise of the discretion with respect to costs - whether plaintiff's offer to settle reasonable - whether defendants' failure to make an offer unreasonable Legislation Cited: - Civil Procedure Act 2005 - Defamation Act 1975 - Defamation Act 2005 - District Court Rules 1973 - Supreme Court Rules 1970 - Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Cases Cited: - Holt v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 770 - Haddon v Forsyth (No 2) [2011] NSWSC 693 - Hans Pet Constructions Pty Ltd v Cassar [2009] NSWCA 230 - Minister for Aboriginal Affairs v Peko-Wallsend Ltd [1986] HCA 40; 162 CLR 24 - Davis v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2008] NSWSC 946 - Jones v Sutton (No 2) [2005] NSWCA 203 - Waters v PC Henderson (Australia) Pty Ltd [1994] NSWCA 338; 254 ALR 328 - Monie v Commonwealth of Australia (No 2) [2008] NSWCA 15 - Ahmadi v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 2) [2010] NSWSC 1191 - Tomanovic v Global Mortgage Equity Corporation Pty Limited (No 2) [2011] NSWCA 256; 288 ALR 385 - Davis v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2008] NSWSC 946 - Larach v Uriola [2009] NSWDC 142; - Cornes v The Ten Group Pty Ltd and Ors (No 2) [2011] SASC 141 - Ryan v Premachandran (Supreme Court of NSW, Nicholas J, 13 November 2009, unreported) - Trkulja v Yahoo! Inc LLC & Anor (No 2) [2012] VSC 217 - Olds v McInnes and Hodgkinson [2011] NSWCA 410 - Hyndes v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 1443 - Manefield v Association of Quality Child Care Centres of New South Wales Inc (No 2) [2011] NSWSC 104 Category: Costs Parties: Andrew Holt (Plaintiff) TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (First defendant) Nine Network Australia (Second defendant) Ben Fordham (Third defendant) Representation: Counsel: K Smark SC (Plaintiff) B McClintock SC/ M Richardson (Defendants) Solicitors: Fitzpatrick Solicitors Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Johnson Winter & Slattery (Defendants) File Number(s): 2010/114155