Stanizzo v Sassu [2014] NSWDC 90

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Stanizzo v Sassu [2014] NSWDC 90 Hearing dates: 4 July 2014 Decision date: 08 July 2014 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Plaintiff's claim against the first to fourth defendants dismissed. (2) Costs of the proceedings against the first to fourth defendants reserved, with liberty to apply. (3) The plaintiff and fifth defendant have leave to bring in short minutes of order for a timetable. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - inadequacy of pleading of publication where the matter complained of is a series of conversations between litigants and witnesses presumed to have occurred by "working backwards" from their affidavits in court proceedings - whether plaintiff entitled to commence proceedings and bring an application at any time for discovery and interrogatories to determine the relevant details and content of each such publication - whether failure to seek such orders at the commencement of proceedings was fatal - whether any such application would be a "fishing expedition" by the plaintiff - whether publications made on an occasion protected by absolute privilege at common law and/or pursuant to s 27(2) Defamation Act 2005 - whether such conversations protected by legal professional privilege and/or common interest privilege Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56 - 62 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 25, 26, 27, 30 and 31 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 5.3, 15.19, 21.2 Cases Cited: Ahmed v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2006] NSWSC 11 Ascherman v Natanson 23 Cal App 3d 861, 100 Cal Rptr 656 (1972) Astral Land Pty Ltd v Golden Commercial Pty Ltd [2012] WASC 274 Calabro v Zappia [2010] NSWDC 127 Clark v Davey [2002] EWHC 2342 Cristovao v Butcher Paull and Calder and Ors [2006] WASCA 235 Cumberland v Clark (1996) 39 NSWLR 514 Cumming v 2KY Broadcasters Pty Ltd [1981] 1 NSWLR 246 Cunliffe v Woods [2012] VSC 254 Daniels Corporation International Pty Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2002) 213 CLR 543 Dank v Cronulla-Sutherland District Rugby League Football Club Ltd [2013] NSWSC 1101 Dank v Cronulla-Sutherland District Rugby League Football Club Ltd (No 3) [2013] NSWSC 1850 Emanuele v Headley (Supreme Court of the ACT, Higgins J, 7 March 1997) In the Estate of Sini: Stanizzo v Henniker [2013] NSWSC 1459 Kaiser v George Laurens (NSW) Pty Ltd [1982] 1 NSWLR 294 Lincoln v Daniels [1962] 1 QB 237 Martin v Watson [1996] AC 74 McCabe v Joynt [1901] 2 Ir R 115 Moevao v Department of Labour [1980] 1 NZLR 4 More v Weaver [1928] 2 KB 520 Network Ten Limited v Capital Holdings Limited (1995) 36 NSWLR 275 Page v McGovern [2008] TasSC 13 Paterson v Hesse [1914] 34 NZLR 177 R v Beydoun (1990) 22 NSWLR 256 Re Neenan [2011] AATA 372 Roberts-Smith v Crawshaw [2014] WASC 12 Russell v Stubbs Ltd [1913] 2 KB 200 State of South Australia v Milisits [2013] SASC 189 Thompson v Turbott [1963] NZLR 71 Trantum v McDowell [2007] NSWCA 138 Vescio v Guardianship Tribunal of New South Wales [2009] NSWDC 341 Vescio v Guardianship Tribunal of New South Wales [2010] NSWCA 227 Watson v M'Ewan [1905] AC 480 Wong Shui Kee v Chu [2003] 1 HKC 125 Texts Cited: Brown on Defamation (2nd Ed., Carswell) Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Plaintiff: Vincent Francis Stanizzo First Defendant: Maria Sassu Second Defendant: Gian Michele Sechi Third Defendant: Lorenza Porcheddu Fourth Defendant: Angelo Porcheddu Fifth Defendant: Karen Garrett Representation: Plaintiff: Mr M Rollinson First, Second, Third and Fourth Defendants: Mr M Lawson Fifth Defendant: In person Plaintiff: Justice Lawyers First, Second, Third and Fourth Defendants: Smith Lawyers Fifth Defendant: In person File Number(s): 2014/116920 Publication restriction: None