Freeburn v The Cake Decorators Association of NSW Inc. (No 2) [2014] NSWDC 173

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Freeburn v The Cake Decorators Association of NSW Inc. (No 2) [2014] NSWDC 173 Hearing dates: 15, 18 October 2014 Decision date: 22 October 2014 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Proceedings dismissed. (2) Save for the costs orders in favour of the first and second defendants of 4 July and 15 August 2014, each party pay its own costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - principle of proportionality - plaintiff and defendants publish motions in the first defendant's newsletter concerning the conduct of a cake decorating association - imputations at a low level of seriousness - parties agree an apology will suffice but are unable to agree on all details - any damages awarded likely to be nominal due to late commencement of proceedings and repeated offers of apology - hopeless true innuendo plea - basis of claim of publication by third defendant never particularised and must be struck out - claim against remaining defendants weak - costs of proceedings beyond the means of all parties - plaintiff already the subject of two costs orders - whether action liable to be stayed or dismissed as an abuse of process on the grounds that the legal costs and court resources required to determine the claim will be out of all proportion to the interest at stake - costs - proceedings dismissed Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 60 and 67 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 30 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 12.7, 13.4(1) and 42.34 Cases Cited: April Fine Paper Macao Commercial Offshore Ltd v Moore Business Systems Australia Ltd (2009) 75 NSWLR 619 Barach v University of New South Wales [2011] NSWSC 431 Bleyer v Google Inc [2014] NSWCA 897 Bodenstein v Hope Street Urban Compassion [2014] NSWDC 126 Bristow v Adams [2012] NSWCA 166 Cairns and Morosi v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1983) 2 NSWLR 708 Casses v Canadian Broadcasting Corp [2012] BCSC 18 Cumberland v Clark (1995 - 6) 39 NSWLR 514 Cush v Dillon; Boland v Dillon [2010] NSWCA 165 Davis v Commonwealth (1988) 166 CLR 79 Delta Electricity v Blue Mountains Conservation Society Inc [2010] NSWCA 263 Dougherty v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [1969] 1 NSWR 189 Ecclestone v Telegraph Media Group Ltd [2009] EWHC 2779 Ewing v Times Newspapers Ltd [2011] NIQB 63 Ewing v Times Newspapers Ltd [2008] CSOH 169 Expense Reduction Analysts Group Pty Ltd v Armstrong Strategic Management and Marketing Pty Ltd (2013) 250 CLR 303 Freeburn v The Cake Decorators Association of NSW Inc. [2014] NSWDC 88 Green v Schneller (Supreme Court of NSW, Levine J, 18 March 1998) Grizonic v Suttor [2008] NSWSC 914 Grubb v Bristol United Press Ltd [1963] 1 QB 309 Habib v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 231 Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2005] QB 946 Jones v Sutton (No 2) [2005] NSWCA 203 Jvancich v Kennedy (No 2) [2004] NSWCA 397 Lewis v Daily Telegraph Ltd [1964] AC 234 Manefield v Child Care NSW [2010] NSWSC 1420 Mardas v International Herald Tribune [2008] All ER (D) 184 Marley's Transport Pty Ltd v West Australian Newspapers Ltd [2001] WASC 31 Nicholls v Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd (No 2) [2013] NSWCA 141 O'Dwyer v Chief Constable of the RUC [1997] NI 403 O'Neill v Foster (2004) 61 NSWLR 499 Random House Australia Pty Ltd v Abbott (1999) 167 ALR 224 Re Sherborne Estate (No 2); Vanvalen v Neaves (2005) 65 NSWLR 268 Readers Digest Services Pty ltd v Lamb (1982) 56 ALJR 214 Safeway Stores Plc v Tate [2001] QB 1120 Schellenberg v British Broadcasting Corporation [2000] EMLR 296 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc v McGuire [2014] NSWSC 1370 Summertime Holdings Pty Ltd v Environmental Defender's Office Ltd (Supreme Court of NSW, Young J, 16 October 1998) Tajjour v New South Wales [2014] HCA 35 Tchadovitch v Tchadovitch (2010) 79 NSWLR 491 Vizovitis v Ryan [2012] ACTSC 155 Wallis v Valentine [2002] EWCA Civ 1034 Winslet v Associated Newspapers Inc [2009] EWHC 2735 Yelash v In Print Publishing Co [1972] NZLR 83 Texts Cited: G E Dal Pont, "Law of Costs", (3rd ed., LexisNexis, Australia) Practice Note No SC CL 4, Supreme Court Common Law Division - Defamation List (5 September 2014) Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure (NSW) (LexisNexis) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Kay Freeburn First Defendant: The Cake Decorators Association of NSW Inc. Second Defendant: Eileen Manning Third Defendant: Wendy Simpson Representation: Plaintiff: Mr G Dilworth First and Second Defendants: Ms A Rao Third Defendant: Mr M Hogg Plaintiff: MRM Lawyers First and Second Defendants: Walker Hedges & Co. Third Defendant: Joplin Higgins Joplin Lawyers File Number(s): 2013/352927 Publication restriction: None