Hibbert v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2016] NSWDC 190

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hibbert v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2016] NSWDC 190 Hearing dates: 28 April 2016 Date of orders: 28 April 2016 Decision date: 28 April 2016 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) The parties to serve copies of their documents for discovery on or before 12 May 2016. (2) The plaintiff to serve his verified answers to interrogatories on or before 12 May 2016. (3) The defendants to serve their expert evidence on or before 28 June 2016. (4) Pursuant to s 26 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), the parties are directed to attend a court appointed mediation. (5) The parties are granted leave to approach the Registry for a date for a court appointed mediation. (6) The matter is listed in the Defamation List on 29 September 2016 at 9:00am for further directions, including the service of expert evidence in reply by the plaintiff. (7) Defendants to serve proposed Amended Defence by 10 June 2016. (8) Matter referred to the List Judge for allocation of a hearing date. Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – disputed estimates of time for defamation jury trial – plaintiff complains unduly long estimate creates financial hardship – relevant issues to take into account when determining trial length – court resources and convenience – longer trial time estimate accepted Cases Cited: Dank v Whittaker (No 4) [2014] NSWSC 732 Kostov v Zhang (Supreme Court of New South Wales, Wilson J, 7 April 2016) Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Darren Hibbert First Defendant: Nationwide News Pty Ltd Second Defendant: Josh Massoud Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr R Rasmussen Defendants: Ms L Barnett