Facer v Wolfe [2013] NSWDC 231

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Facer v Wolfe [2013] NSWDC 231 Hearing dates: 28 November 2013 Decision date: 28 November 2013 Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) The defendant, Jane Wolfe, called outside Court 13D three times at 10:28am - no appearance. (2) By reason of the fact that the defendant was not notified of the 28 November 2013 hearing date until 19 November 2013 (albeit in circumstances where no notification order was made on 23 August 2013), and has advised that she is overseas until 30 December 2013, today's hearing date is vacated (Gibson DCJ to give reasons). (3) These proceedings are to be returned to the Defamation List on Friday 6 December 2013 so that the defendant may be notified by email by the court of these orders and provided with a copy of Gibson DCJ's judgment, and a fresh hearing date obtained. (4) Note Gibson DCJ is not part heard. (5) Costs of today reserved. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - email by member of a body corporate management to 5 fellow members containing imputations about strata manager - defences of justification, contextual truth, honest opinion and unlikelihood of harm - defendant fails to answer a request for particulars and defence is struck out - proceedings listed for hearing as an assessment hearing in circumstances where the defendant, a litigant in person, is not present - defendant advised of hearing date the week beforehand but is overseas - hearing vacated Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56 - 62 and 66 Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 35 and 38 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 15.22 - 15.30 and 29.7 Cases Cited: Ahmed v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2006] NSWCA 6 Attrill v Christie [2007] NSWSC 1386 Ford v Nagle [2004] NSWCA 33 French Consulting Pty Ltd v Lawson Stuart Donald [2011] NSWSC 584 Hallam v Ross [2011] QCA 274 Hickie v Perkins (Supreme Court of NSW, Levine J, 15 November 1996) Hodgkinson v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company [2003] O.J. No. 5125 (C.A.) Kingdon v Kirk (1887) 37 Ch D 141 Knapp v Hinchcliffe [2004] QSC 326 Magjarraj v Asteron Life Ltd [2009] NSWSC 1433 Martin v Bruce (2007) 6 DCLR 15 Satz v ACN 069 808 957 Pty Ltd [2010] NSWSC 365 Scott v Handley [1999] FCA 404 Stone v Smith (1887) 35 Ch D 188 Texts Cited: Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure (NSW) Tobin & Sexton, Australian Defamation Law and Practice Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Jeffrey Michael Facer Defendant: Jane Wolfe Representation: Plaintiff: Mr R Weaver Defendant: No appearance Plaintiff: Worthington & Reading Lawyers Defendant: No appearance File Number(s): 2011/226458 Publication restriction: None