El-Mouelhy v QSociety of Australia Inc (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1816

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: El-Mouelhy v QSociety of Australia Inc (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1816 Hearing dates: 20 November 2015 Date of orders: 01 December 2015 Decision date: 01 December 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: (1) Contextual imputation (ii) struck out; plaintiff's application to have the defence of contextual truth struck out otherwise dismissed. (2) Plaintiff's application for discovery is dismissed. (3) Plaintiff's application for an order that the proceedings be tried with a jury of twelve dismissed. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – defences – contextual truth – whether contextual imputations capable of being defamatory – whether contextual imputations differ in substance from plaintiff's imputations

DEFAMATION – procedure – discovery – where application brought prior to second listing – where application requires defendants to create a document

DEFAMATION – procedure – plaintiff's application for trial with a jury of twelve – where plaintiff asserts a strong anti-Muslim sentiment in groups of the community – where no evidence provided Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56-60 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 26 Jury Act 1977 (NSW), s 20 Cases Cited: Ahmed v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2006] NSWSC 11 Besser v Kermode [2011] NSWCA 174; 81 NSWLR 157 Born Brands Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 369; 88 NSWLR 421 Con Ange v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 1200 El-Mouelhy v Q Society of Australia Inc (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 990 El-Mouelhy v Q Society of Australia Inc (No 3) [2015] NSWSC 1069. El-Mouelhy v Q Society of Australia Inc [2015] NSWSC 545 Fairfax Media Publications v Zeccola [2015] NSWCA 329 McMahon v John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited (No 3) [2012] NSWSC 196 Mizikovsky v Queensland Television Limited (No 3) [2011] QSC 375 Rose v Allen & Unwin Pty Limited [2015] NSWSC 991 The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd v Balzola [2015] NSWCA 285 Wood v Channel Seven Sydney Pty Limited; Wood v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2014] NSWSC 1527 Texts Cited: Peter Bartlett, "The Year in Australian Media Law", www.pressfreedom.org.au Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Mohamed El-Mouelhy (plaintiff) QSociety of Australia Inc (first defendant) Kirralie Jane Smith (second defendant) Peter Dominic Callaghan (third defendant) Debbie Robinson (fourth defendant) Ralf Shumann (fifth defendant) Representation: Counsel: B Connell (plaintiff) S Chrysanthou (defendants)