Lahoud v Hooper (No. 2) [2015] NSWSC 1405

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Lahoud v Hooper (No. 2) [2015] NSWSC 1405 Hearing dates: 23 September 2015 Decision date: 25 September 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adamson J Decision: (1) Dismiss the summons.

(2) Unless an application for a different order is made in writing to my Associate within seven days, order the plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – preliminary discovery to identify potential defendant in proposed defamation claim – exercise of discretion – weakness of plaintiff's putative claim – public interest in free flow of information between councils and constituents – relevance of potential defence of qualified privilege – summons dismissed Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 14 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), ss 94, 96 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), ss 186, 192 Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW), ss 4, 18 Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Act 1997 (NSW), s 11 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 5.2 Cases Cited: Aon Risk Services Australia v Australian National University [2009] HCA 27; 239 CLR 175 Commercial Union Assurance Company of Australia Ltd v Ferrcom Pty Ltd (1991) 22 NSWLR 389 GSA Industries Pty Ltd v NT Gas Ltd (1990) 24 NSWLR 710 H & H Security Pty Ltd v Toliopoulos (Supreme Court (NSW), Levine J, 17 May 1995, unreported) Hatfield v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2010] NSWCA 69; 77 NSWLR 506 John Fairfax & Sons Ltd v Cojuangco (1998) 165 CLR 346 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298 Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550 Lahoud v Hooper [2015] NSWSC 1026 Liu v The Age Company [2010] NSWSC 1176 Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales v Australian National Car Parks [2007] NSWCA 114 Steele v Mirror Newspapers [1974] 2 NSWLR 348 Stewart v Miller [1979] 2 NSWLR 128 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Victor Lahoud (Plaintiff) John Hooper (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: JD Hmelnitsky SC (Plaintiff) MR Elliott (Defendant)