Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Goldsmith v Ghosh [2015] NSWSC 604 Hearing dates: 20 May 2015 Date of orders: 20 May 2015 Decision date: 20 May 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Wilson J Decision: See paragraph 5 Catchwords: CIVIL LAW – service of Statement of Claim – alternative to personal service – no point of principle Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Barrie Goldsmith (Plaintiff) Dr Ratua Ghosh (Defendant) Representation: Solicitors: Ms V Chou (Plaintiff) Ex parte File Number(s): 2015/149194 Ex tempore Judgment 1. The plaintiff in these proceedings, Barrie Goldsmith, the principal of a firm of solicitors, Barrie Goldsmith Lawyers, has today sought leave of this Court to file a Notice of Motion in Court, returnable instanter, seeking orders for alternative service upon the defendant to an action in defamation, Dr Ratua Ghosh. 2. The service is sought to be effected by email because of what is said to be the urgency of the matters to be litigated, and the need for the defendant to be served quickly. There is a last known residential address for Dr Ratua Ghosh that is known to the plaintiff, but that address is of some age and it is not known for certain that the defendant in fact continues to reside at that address. 3. The orders that are sought more generally in the Notice of Motion, not being those the plaintiff seeks to have determined today, seek to restrain the defendant from what is said to be the continuation of damaging publications on the internet, defamatory of the plaintiff. That would suggest that there is a need for the matter to be dealt with quickly and, accordingly, service by email appears to be appropriate in these particular circumstances. 4. Rule 10.14 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provides for alternative service where there is some issue about personal service being effected. Pursuant to that rule, I propose to grant the request for service by email. Orders 1. Accordingly, the orders that are made ex parte are these: 1. The plaintiff is given leave to file the notice of motion of today's date in Court. 2. The motion is returnable instanter. 3. Leave is granted to the plaintiff to serve upon the defendant by email a sealed copy of the statement of claim filed on 19 May 2015; a sealed copy of this Motion; and a sealed copy of the affidavit of the plaintiff affirmed on 19 May 2015. 4. (3)(a) I direct the plaintiff to attempt to effect service upon the defendant by the following additional means, that is by leaving a copy of each of the three documents that I have referred to in Order 3 at the defendant's last known place of residence. 5. (4) Personal service of the documents is dispensed with on the basis that Orders 3 and 3(a) are complied with, and the defendant shall be deemed to have been duly served with those documents. 1. (5) The matter is listed before the defamation list Judge at 10.00 am on Friday, 22 May 2015 for the hearing of the balance of the application contained in the Notice of Motion, being orders 6 to 11. ********** DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 20 May 2015