Petty v Zhao [2014] NSWDC 174

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Petty v Zhao [2014] NSWDC 174 Hearing dates: 22 October 2014 Decision date: 22 October 2014 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) The defendant is to file a further amended defence in 14 days particularising and pleading, in proper form, any plea of contextual truth. (2) The defendant pay any costs thrown away by reason of the filing of the further amended defence. (3) The defendant is to provide particulars in 14 days as follows: (a) Each conversation with the plaintiff in which she asked him not to park in their driveway. (b) The email sent by the plaintiff to the defendant to which she pressed "reply" for the purpose of publishing the matter complained of. (4) Costs to be defendant's costs in the cause. (5) Reply filed 14 days thereafter. (6) Matter stood over to the Defamation List on Friday 28 November 2014. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - application to strike out particulars of justification - inadequate plea of contextual truth - turns on its own facts Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 57 Road Rules 2008 (NSW), r 198(2) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 14.7, 14.8, 14.28 and 15.10 Cases Cited: Brown v The Brisbane Newspaper Co Ltd [1902] QWN 25 Church of the New Faith Inc v Bower & Australian Broadcasting Commission (1977) 18 SASR 554 Cohen v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1965] NSWR 1484 Marks v Wilson-Boyd [1939] 2 All ER 605 Sims v Wran [1984] 1 NSWLR 317 Texts Cited: Brown on Defamation (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States) (2nd e.d., Carswell) Gatley on Libel and Slander (13th e.d., Sweet & Maxwell) Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Plaintiff: Geoffrey Roy Petty Defendant: Yocy Zhao Representation: Plaintiff: Mr R Rasmussen Defendant: Mr A Nelson Plaintiff: Burston Cole & Associates Defendant: Martin Solicitors File Number(s): 2014/148290 Publication restriction: None