Plymouth Brethren (Exclusive Brethren) Christian Church v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; Plymouth Brethren (Exclusive Brethren) Christian Church v The Age Company Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 214

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Plymouth Brethren (Exclusive Brethren) Christian Church v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; Plymouth Brethren (Exclusive Brethren) Christian Church v The Age Company Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 214 Hearing dates: 3 March 2017 Decision date: 03 October 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: In each proceeding, that the question whether the matter complained of is reasonably capable of identifying the plaintiff be decided separately from and before any other question in the proceedings; that the separate question be answered "no" Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – action for defamation – application for separate decision of question whether matters complained of reasonably capable of identifying the plaintiff – weight to be given to the fact that separate decision of that question could bring the proceedings to an end – importance of case management principles in proceedings for defamation

DEFAMATION – identification – requirement that the defamatory publication sued on be "about" the plaintiff – articles concerning events involving members of a church dating back over decades – actions for defamation brought by a corporation which is not the church – plaintiff company incorporated in 2012 with the object of acting as the secretariat of the church in Australia – whether open to jury to find that the articles were about the corporation Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), Pt 6 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 150(1) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 8, 9 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 15.1, 15.19(1)(d), 28 Cases Cited: David Syme & Co v Canavan (1918) 25 CLR 234; [1918] HCA 50 Expense Reduction Analysts Group Pty Ltd v Armstrong Strategic Management and Marketing Pty Limited [2013] HCA 46 E Hulton & Co v Jones [1910] AC 20 Lee v Wilson (1934) 51 CLR 276 Mirror Newspapers Ltd v World Hosts Pty Ltd (1979) 141 CLR 632 Nu-Tec v ABC [2010] NSWSC 711 Younan v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 1528 Younan v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2013] NSWCA 335 Zoef v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2016] NSWCA 283 Category: Principal judgment Parties: 2016/210844: Plymouth Brethren (Exclusive Brethren) Christian Church (plaintiff) Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (first defendant) Michael Bachelard (second defendant)