Ghosh v Miller & Ors (No. 2) [2013] NSWDC 194

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Ghosh v Miller & Ors (No. 2) [2013] NSWDC 194 Hearing dates: 10 October 2013 Decision date: 10 October 2013 Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) The defendants called outside Newcastle Court 1 and Court 3 three times at 10:20am - no appearance. (2) Grant leave to the plaintiff to file the Notice of Motion in the Registry today and pay the relevant filing fee. (3) Pursuant to s 140(2) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), transfer Local Court matter 2013/76771 to the New South Wales District Court, forming part of District Court matter 2013/238215, by reason of the Local Court having no jurisdiction in defamation proceedings. (4) Dismiss the plaintiff's application for default judgment. (5) Matter transferred to the Defamation List in Sydney on Friday 1 November 2013. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - application to transfer proceedings from Local Court to District Court (s 140(2) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW)) as the Local Court has no jurisdiction to hear defamation actions (s 33 Local Court Act 2007 (NSW)) - application for default judgment due to non appearance of defendants - default judgment generally inappropriate in defamation actions - absence of proof of service of statement of claim - application for default judgment dismissed Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 140(2) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 27(1) Local Court Act 2007 (NSW), s 33 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), Pt 10 r 10.21 Cases Cited: Altarama Pty Ltd v Forsyth (1981) 1 NSWLR 188 French v Triple M Melbourne Pty Ltd [2006] VSC 36 Ghosh v Ninemsn Pty Ltd [2013] NSWDC 145 Ivory v Millett (Supreme Court of Western Australia, 29 January 1999, Anderson J) Markisic v Today-Denes Pty Ltd [2002] NSWSC 1051 Mundey v Askin [1982] 3 NSWLR 369 Oliver v Bryant Strata Management Pty Ltd (1995) 41 NSWLR 514 Szanto v Bainton [2011] NSWSC 985 Texts Cited: - Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Plaintiff: Dr Ratna Ghosh First Defendant: Rodney Miller Second Defendant: Everingham Miller Third Defendant: Marilyn Bee Fourth Defendant: John Bee Fifth Defendant: Michael Ryan Sixth Defendant: Adam Josef Schuch Seventh Defendant: Karen Schuch Representation: Plaintiff: Dr R Ghosh (in person) Defendant: No appearance Plaintiff: Dr R Ghosh (in person) Defendant: No appearance File Number(s): 2013/238215 Publication restriction: None