Otto (a.k.a. Ashworth) v Gold Coast Publications Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 101

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Otto (a.k.a. Ashworth) v Gold Coast Publications Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 101 Hearing dates: 27 April 2017 Date of orders: 12 May 2017 Decision date: 12 May 2017 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Plaintiff's notice of motion dismissed; application for extension of time in relation to publications prior to 9 December 2016 refused. (2) Plaintiff pay defendants' costs of and incidental to the application, including (where applicable) the costs of the publications for which the extension of time has been refused. (3) Plaintiff file a Further Amended Statement of Claim in 14 days. (4) Matter stood over to Thursday 22 June 2017 for an imputations argument in the Defamation List. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – online and print publications - application for extension of limitation period for print publications and the portion of the online publications falling outside the limitation period – plaintiff commences proceedings immediately prior to the expiry of the limitation period but sues the wrong defendants – plaintiff aware of limitation period at all relevant times – whether the "sins of the solicitors" in suing the wrong defendants should be sheeted home to the plaintiff - whether it was not reasonable of the plaintiff not to have commenced the proceedings before expiry of the limitation period – application for extension of time refused Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 64 and 65 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 23 Limitation Act 1969 (NSW), ss 14B and 56A Printing and Newspapers Act 1973 (NSW) Printing and Newspapers Act 1981 (Qld) Cases Cited: Ahmed v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd [2010] NSWSC 676 Barrett v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1663 Brooks v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2015] NSWSC 986 Carey v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2012) 84 NSWLR 90 Cross v Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd [2006] NSWSC 1340 Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnik (2002) 210 CLR 575 Duke of Brunswick v Harmer (1849) 14 QB 185; [1849] Eng R 915; (1849) 117 ER 75 Firth v State of New York (2002) 98 NY 2d 365; (2002) 775 NE 2d 463 Ghosh v Nine Digital Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 90 Ghosh v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2014] NSWDC 151 Google Inc v Trkulja [2016] VSCA 333 Lazarus v Deutsche Lufthansa (1985) 1 NSWLR 188 Maamary v Pepsico Australia Pty Ltd & Ors [2001] NSWCA 375 McAuliffe v Bell [2005] NSWSC 214 Mulpha Hotel Pty Ltd v Goff [2012] 1 Qd R 226 Otto v Dailymail.com Australia Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 32 Otto v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd [2016] NSWDC 308 Pingel v Toowoomba Newspapers Pty Ltd [2010] QCA 175 Van Garderen v Channel Seven Melbourne Pty Ltd [2016] VCC 953 York v Morgan (2015) 20 DCLR (NSW) 341 Texts Cited: D K Rolph, "A critique of the national uniform defamation laws" (2008) 16 TLJ 207 Stephanie Rigg, "The Duke and his manservant in a world of online defamation" (2016) 21 MALR 424 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: David Otto (a.k.a. David Ashworth) First Defendant: Gold Coast Publications Pty Ltd (ACN 009 696 511) Second Defendant: Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd trading as News Queensland (ACN 009 061 778) Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr M K Rollinson Defendants: Ms L Mullins (solicitor)