Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1889

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1889 Hearing dates: 29 July 2016 Decision date: 22 December 2016 Before: McCallum J Decision: Contextual imputation "that the plaintiff, a rabbi, had behaved disgracefully" struck out; plaintiff ordered to answer defendants' interrogatories numbered 84 to 98. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – defences – defence of contextual truth – contextual imputation pleaded in general terms – whether liable to be struck out on case management principles – whether so general as to be likely to cause difficulty in the interlocutory stages or at the trial Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 60, 62 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 25, 26 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 135 Cases Cited: Abou-Lokmeh v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd [2016] NSWCA 228 Ange v Fairfax Media Publications [2010] NSWSC 645 Fairfax Media Publication Pty Ltd v King [2015] NSWCA 172 Feldman v Executive Council of Australian Jewry Inc; Feldman v Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Australia Ltd; Feldman v Spinak [2016] NSWSC 1669 King v Fairfax Media Publication Pty Ltd (No 2) [2014] NSWSC 1244 Maisel v Financial Times Ltd (1915) 112 LT 953 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Yosef Yitzchak Feldman (Plaintiff) Polaris Media Pty Ltd as trustee of The Polaris Media Trust trading as The Australian Jewish News (First Defendant) Joshua Levi (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: J Cohen (Plaintiff) S Chrysanthou (Defendants)