Paramasivam v Sabanathan [2013] NSWSC 1033

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Paramasivam v Sabanathan [2013] NSWSC 1033 Hearing dates: 28 June 2012 Decision date: 05 August 2013 Before: McCallum J Decision: Plaintiff's claim in defamation dismissed; defendants' application for relief under the Vexatious Proceedings Act refused Catchwords: DEFAMATION - plaintiff claiming to have been defamed by words said in Court in Sri Lanka by lawyer appearing for some defendants - whether any reasonable cause of action disclosed

PROCEDURE - application by defendants for relief under Vexatious Proceedings Act - where application brought by private parties against whom only a single set of proceedings had been brought - whether discretion to grant relief should be exercised Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 Evidence Act 1995 Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901 Judicial Officers Act 1986 Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Cases Cited: Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick [2002] HCA 56; 210 CLR 575 Gargan v Kippin Investments Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 398 Official Trustee in Bankruptcy v Gargan (No 2) [2009] FCA 398 Paramasivam v Wheeler [2000] FCA 1559 Paramasivam v Wheeler [2001] FCA 231 Paramasivam v Acquilina [2002] HCA Trans 87 Paramasivam v Howard [2002] HCA Trans 88 Paramasivam v Karmel [2002] HCA Trans 89 Paramasivam v Kemp [2002] HCA Trans 90 Paramasivam v Sendt [2002] HCA Trans 91 Paramasivam v Wheeler [2002] HCA Trans 92 Paramasivam v University of New South Wales [2002] NSWADT 202 Paramasivam v Vice Chancellor, University of New South Wales [2003] NSWADTAP 2 Paramasivam v University of New South Wales [2006] NSWSC 1189 Paramasivam v University of New South Wales [2007] FCA 875 Paramasivam v Shier [2001] FCA 545 Paramasivam v Shier [2002] FCAFC 142 Paramasivam v Juraszek [2002] FCAFC 141 Paramasivam v Tay [2001] FCA 758 Paramasivam v Tay [2002] FCAFC 143 Paramasivam v Randwick City Council [2005] FCA 369 Paramasivam v Randwick City Council (No 2) [2005] FCA 508 Paramasivam v Unversity of New South Wales [2006] NSWSC 1189 Paramasivam v The State of New South Wales (No.2) [2007] FCMA 1033 Pascoe v Liprini [2011] NSWSC 1484 Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Gajalakshmi Paramasivam (plaintiff) Saraswathy Sabanathan (first defendant) Tharmaratnam Sabanathan (second defendant) Yohananda Sabanathan (third defendant) Mahadevan Sritharan (fourth defendant) Paramanathan Senthilnathan (fifth defendant) Sakthidevy Mahadevan (sixth defendant) Sellathurai Manadevan (seventh defendant) Subramaniam Tharmalingam (eighth defendant) Representation: Plaintiff self-represented P Maddigan (defendants) Bosscher Lawyers (defendants) File Number(s): 2012/80864 Publication restriction: None