Mallegowda v Sood (No. 2) [2014] NSWDC 216

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Mallegowda v Sood (No. 2) [2014] NSWDC 216 Hearing dates: 5 August 2014 Decision date: 06 August 2014 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Hearing date of 18 August 2014 vacated. (2) Gibson DCJ not part heard. (3) Plaintiff's notice of motion filed 19 June 2014 dismissed. (4) Costs of and incidental to the plaintiff's notice of motion of 19 June 2014 and the vacating of the hearing date reserved. (5) These proceedings listed for further directions in the Defamation List on Friday 29 August 2014. Catchwords: TORT - defamation - claim and cross-claim for defamation set down for hearing for 5 days plus despite interlocutory steps remaining - plaintiff brings application to vacate hearing date - defendants' failure to answer interrogatories requiring further rulings - defendants' late service of expert report - claimed failures by both parties of failure to serve witness lists and statements where more than 30 witnesses likely - role of trial judge in determining case management issues - whether proceedings ready for hearing - whether time estimate accurate - whether further pleadings rulings and an expert conclave order should be made - hearing date vacated Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56, 57, 58, 66 and 68 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 46(3)(b) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 15.4(1) Cases Cited: Bass v Permanent Trustee (1999) 198 CLR 334 Bass v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2006] NSWCA 343 Bidner v Queensland [2000] QCA 368 Burrows v Knightley & Nationwide News Pty Ltd (1987) 10 NSWLR 651 Buswell v Carles [2012] WASC 509 Mallegowda v Sood [2013] NSWDC 98 Scott v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 169 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia v Judge (No 2) [2013] NSWSC 1821 Texts Cited: - Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Plaintiff: Shashikanth Mallegowda First Defendant: Amit Sood Second Defendant: Naveen Lingaiah Representation: Plaintiff: Mr C J Dibb Defendants: Mr T K Tobin QC / Mr B Connell Plaintiff: Vaikom Rajeev Defendants: Roberts Legal File Number(s): 2012/352080 Publication restriction: None