Abou-Lokmeh v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd [2016] NSWCA 228

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Abou-Lokmeh v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd [2016] NSWCA 228 Hearing dates: 19 July 2016 Decision date: 25 August 2016 Before: McColl JA at [1], Gleeson JA at [107], Payne JA at [112] Decision: (1) Refuse leave to appeal; (2) The applicant to pay the respondents' costs, including the costs of the hearing on 23 March 2016. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – defence – contextual truth – Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) s 26 – plaintiff pleaded imputation of paying to have defendant murdered – defendants pleaded contextual imputation of wanting to have defendant killed – whether contextual imputation capable of being conveyed "in addition to" plaintiff's imputation – application of "differ in substance" test

DEFAMATION – defence – qualified privilege at common law – reply to attack – where plaintiff's reply attacks third party – whether plaintiff complicit in attack – whether sufficient that attack on third party necessary to vindicate plaintiff's reputation – whether reply "commensurate with the occasion"

DEFAMATION – practice and procedure – strike-out application – whether defences obviously untenable or unarguably bad

PRACTICE – application for leave to appeal – whether different "rule" for defamation proceedings – stage at which issues of principle should be resolved Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Adam v Ward [1917] AC 309 Adam P Brown Male Fashions Pty Ltd v Philip Morris Inc [1981] HCA 39; (1981) 148 CLR 170 Agar v Hyde [2000] HCA 41; (2000) 201 CLR 552 Allen v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (Supreme Court (NSW), Hunt J, 2 December 1988, unrep, BC8801264) Ange v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2011] NSWSC 204 Bashford v Information Australia (Newsletters) Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 5; (2004) 218 CLR 366 Bayne v Bailleu [1908] HCA 39; (1908) 6 CLR 382 Be Financial Pty Ltd as Trustee for Be Financial Operations Trust v Das [2012] NSWCA 164 Bowen-Rowlands v Argus Press Ltd, The Times, 10 February and 26 March 1926 Carolan v AMF Bowling Pty Limited [1995] NSWCA 69 Coward v Wellington (1836) 7 Car & P 531; 173 ER 234 Crosby v Kelly [2013] FCA 1343 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Kermode [2011] NSWCA 174; (2011) 81 NSWLR 157 Fairfax Media Publications v Zeccola [2015] NSWCA 329 Federation Insurance Ltd v Wasson [1987] HCA 34; (1987) 163 CLR 303 General Steel Industries Inc v the Commissioner for Railways (NSW) [1964] HCA 69; (1964) 112 CLR 125 George v Rockett [1990] HCA 26; (1990) 170 CLR 104 Guise v Kouvelis [1947] HCA 13; (1947) 74 CLR 102 Habib v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2010] NSWCA 34; (2010) 76 NSWLR 299 Hanrahan v Ainsworth (1990) 22 NSWLR 73 Harbour Radio Pty Ltd v Trad [2012] HCA 44; (2012) 247 CLR 31 House v R [1936] HCA 40; (1936) 55 CLR 499 Hyndes v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 633 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Hitchcock [2007] NSWCA 364; (2007) 70 NSWLR 484 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Jones [2004] NSWCA 205 Jones v Bartlett [2000] HCA 56; (2000) 205 CLR 166 Liversidge v Anderson [1942] AC 206 London Association for Protection of Trade v Greenlands Limited [1916] 2 AC 15 Love v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1980] 2 NSWLR 112 Loveday v Sun Newspapers Ltd [1938] HCA 28; (1938) 59 CLR 503 Maisel v Financial Times Ltd (1915) 112 LT 953 Marshall v Megna [2013] NSWCA 30 McMahon v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd (No 3) [2012] NSWSC 196 McNicol v ACT Health Authority [1988] ACTSC 55 Mizikovsky v Queensland Television Ltd [2013] QCA 68; [2014] 1 Qd R 197 Morosi v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1977] 2 NSWLR 749 Mowlds v Fergusson [1940] HCA 38; (1940) 64 CLR 206 Murray v Barlee (1834) 3 My & K 209; 40 ER 80 Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Warton [2002] NSWCA 377 Norton v Hoare (No 1) [1913] HCA 51; (1913) 17 CLR 310 Palmer v Belan [1999] NSWSC 187 Penton v Calwell [1945] HCA 51; (1945) 70 CLR 219 R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, Ex parte Rossminster Ltd [1980] AC 952 R v Home Secretary: Ex parte Khawaja [1984] AC 74 Re Will of Gilbert (1946) 46 SR(NSW) 318 Setka v Abbott [2014] VSCA 287; (2014) 44 VR 352 Singleton v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (Supreme Court (NSW), Hunt J, 20 February 1980, unrep, BC8000039) Standen v South Essex Recorders Ltd (1934) 50 TLR 365 State of New South Wales v Deren [1999] NSWCA 22; (1999) Aust Torts Reports ¶ 81-502 State of New South Wales v Williams [2014] NSWCA 177 The Age Company Ltd v Liu [2013] NSWCA 26; (2013) 82 NSWLR 268 Toben v Milne [2014] NSWCA 200 Turner v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Ltd [1950] 1 All ER 449 Watts v Times Newspapers Ltd [1997] QB 650 Webb v Bloch [1928] HCA 50; (1928) 41 CLR 331 Younan v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2013] NSWCA 335 Zelden v Sewell; Henamast Pty Ltd v Sewell [2011] NSWCA 56 Texts Cited: Spencer Bower, A Code of the Law of Actionable Defamation, (2nd ed, 1923, Butterworth & Co) Michael Gillooly, The Law of Defamation in Australia and New Zealand, (1998, The Federation Press) The Hon Sir Anthony Mason, KBE, Chief Justice of the High Court, "The Use and Abuse of Precedent" (1988) 4 Australian Bar Review 93 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Bassem Abou-Lokmeh (Appellant) Harbour Radio Pty Ltd (First Respondent) Ray Hadley (Second Respondent) Mahassen Issa (Third Respondent) Representation: Counsel: CJ Dibb (Appellant) ATS Dawson and LE Barnett (Respondents)