Bodenstein v Hope Street Urban Compassion [2014] NSWDC 126

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Bodenstein v Hope Street Urban Compassion [2014] NSWDC 126 Hearing dates: 16, 17 and 18 July 2014 Decision date: 12 August 2014 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Judgment for the first defendant. (2) Plaintiff to pay the court filing fee and hearing fee in 28 days. (3) Plaintiff's claim against the second defendant dismissed. (4) Liberty to apply in relation to costs, such liberty to be exercised in 7 days. (5) Vacate the notice of motion return date of 15 August 2014. (6) Exhibits retained for 28 days. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - plaintiff, a homeless person, involved in verbal dispute with an employee of a not-for-profit homeless assistance provider concerning the mobile phone used by the employee - employee calls police - plaintiff commences proceedings for publication of slander to the police officer and to a fellow employee - publication and defamatory meaning - whether each of the two publications was made on an occasion protected by qualified privilege at common law or pursuant to s 30 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) - whether plaintiff had established that the second defendant was motivated by malice - whether the publication was reasonable (s 30(3)) - defences of qualified privilege at common law and pursuant to s 30 made out - plaintiff fails to establish malice - damages - limited publications - two publications to two persons - mitigation of damages - evidence of apologies and conciliatory gestures by both defendants - whether damages, if awarded, should be nominal only. Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 56 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 20, 30 and 38(1)(a) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 10.4, 14.4, 14.30 and 29.7 Cases Cited: Adam v Ward [1917] AC 309 Ainsworth v Burden [2005] NSWCA 174 Aldridge v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd [1984] 2 NSWLR 544 Ali v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 183 Altarama v Forsyth [1981] 1 NSWLR 188 Andreyevich v Kosovich (1947) 47 SR(NSW) 357 Bashford v Information Australia (Newsletters) Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 5; (2004) 218 CLR 366 Beck v Brener (District Court of NSW, Bozic SC DCJ, 5 May 2011) Bodenstein v Hope Street Urban Compassion (Supreme Court of New South Wales, McCallum J, 2 December 2013) Bodenstein v Hope Street Urban Compassion [2014] NSWSC 174 Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336 Bristow v Adams [2012] NSWCA 166 Calwell v Ipec Australia Ltd (1975) 135 CLR 321 Cerutti v Crestside Pty Ltd [2014] QCA 33 Coren v Master Builders Assn of New South Wales Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 244 Cush v Dillon; Boland v Dillon [2011] HCA 30; (2011) 243 CLR 298 French Consulting Pty Ltd v Donald [2011] NSWSC 584 French v Triple M Melbourne Pty Ltd [2006] VSC 36 Gross v Weston (2007) 69 NSWLR 279 Hallam v Ross [2011] QCA 274 Hans Pet Constructions Pty Ltd v Cassar [2009] NSWCA 30 Hughes v National Trustees, Executors and Agency Co of Australia Ltd (1979) 143 CLR 134 Hunt v Great Northern Railway [1891] 2 QB 189 Italiano v Carbone [2005] NSWCA 177 Jones v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 364 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298 Kim v Lee [2012] NZCA 248 Kim v Lee [2012] NZCA 600 King v McKenzie (1991) Aust Torts Reports 81-118 Kingdon v Kirk (1887) 37 Ch D 141 Lamont v Dwyer [2008] ACTSC 125 Lemaire v Smith's Newspaper Ltd (1927) 28 SR (NSW) 161 LVMH Watch & Jewellery Australia Pty Ltd v Lassanah [2011] NSWCA 370 Magjarraj v Asteron Life Ltd [2009] NSWSC 1433 Malouf v Prince [2014] NSWCA 12 Mann v O'Neil (1997) 191 CLR 204 McKenzie v Mergen Holdings Pty Ltd (1990) 20 NSWLR 42 Papaconstuntinos v Holmes à Court (2012) 249 CLR 534 PW v MS (No 3) [2014] WASC 202 Ritz Hotel v Charles of the Ritz Ltd (1988) 15 NSWLR 158 Roach v B & W Steel Pty Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 110 Robert Bax & Associates v Cavenham Pty Ltd [2012] QCA 177 Roberts v Bass (2002) 212 CLR 1 Rogers v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2003) 216 CLR 327 Satz v ACN 069 808 957 Pty Ltd [2010] NSWSC 365 Shiels v Manny [2012] ACTA 22 Stone v Smith (1887) 35 Ch D 188 Trantum v McDowell [2007] NSWCA 138 Turner v MGM Pictures Ltd [1950] 1 All ER 449 Texts Cited: Cross on Evidence (LexisNexis) Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure (NSW) (LexisNexis) Tobin & Sexton, Australian Defamation Law and Practice (LexisNexis Australia) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Amir Bodenstein First Defendant: Hope Street Urban Compassion Second Defendant: George Vlamakis Representation: Plaintiff: In person Defendant: Ms S Chrysanthou Plaintiff: In person Defendant: Hall & Wilcox Lawyers File Number(s): 2013/16865 Publication restriction: None