Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Mahmoud v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (No 2) [2017] NSWSC 763 Hearing dates: 2 June 2017 Decision date: 02 June 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: Plaintiff's recusal application refused Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application to have judge recuse herself on the grounds of actual bias – where judge had previously refused an application by the plaintiff – plaintiff alleging that earlier judgment discloses actual bias Cases Cited: Mahmoud v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2017] NSWSC 85 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Tosson Hussein Mahmoud (plaintiff) Australian Broadcasting Corporation (first defendant) Claire Aird (second defendant) Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (third defendant) PT. Kompas Cyber Media (fourth defendant) Security Business Bank of Sand Diego (fifth defendant) Facebook, Inc. (sixth defendant) Facebook Australia (seventh defendant) Yahoo!7 Pty Ltd (eighth defendant) Google Australia Pty Ltd (ninth defendant) Yahoo! Inc. (tenth defendant) Yahoo!7 Pty Limited (eleventh defendant) Twitter Inc. (twelfth defendant) YouTube, LLC (thirteenth defendant) Veooz.com (fourteenth defendant) Abix (fifteenth defendant) ANTARA (sixteenth defendant) Bakrie & Brothers Corporation (seventeenth defendant) CT Corp (eighteenth defendant) Emtek (nineteenth defendant) PT Komopas Gramedia Group (twentieth defendant) PT. Niskala Media Tenggara Company (twenty-first defendant) Media Antarkota Jaya, PT (twenty-second defendant) Sharp Corporation Headquarters (twenty-third defendant) Media Troup (twenty-fourth defendant) The MNC Media Group (twenty-fifth defendant) The Tempo Media Group (twenty-sixth defendant) Abdurizal Bakrie's Visi Asia Media Group (twenty-seventh defendant) BBC Indonesia (twenty-eighth defendant) The British Broadcasting Commission (twenty-ninth defendant) Fairfax Digital Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd (thirtieth defendant) Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff self-represented L Barnett (first, second and eleventh defendants to amended statement of claim) L Norman, solicitor (third and thirtieth defendants to amended statement of claim) Solicitors: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (first and second defendants to amended statement of claim) Johnson Winter Slattery (eleventh defendant to amendment statement of claim) Banki Haddock Fiori (third and thirtieth defendants to amended statement of claim) File Number(s): 2015/219421 Judgment 1. HER HONOUR: This is an action for defamation brought by Mr Tosson Mahmoud. The proceedings are in the Defamation List, which is ordinarily conducted by me. Earlier in the proceedings, Mr Mahmoud brought an application by notice of motion filed 31 January 2017 seeking injunctive relief. I determined that application on 3 February 2017, publishing my reasons that date: see Mahmoud v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2017] NSWSC 85. 2. The application for injunctive relief was refused. On the same date, I struck out the statement of claim with leave to re-plead. Mr Mahmoud has since filed an amended statement of claim as directed by me. The proceedings are before the Court today for further argument or directions following the filing of the amended pleading. 3. When the matter was called today, Mr Mahmoud indicated that he wished to make an application requesting me to disqualify myself on the grounds of actual bias. It is appropriate to determine that application first. 4. The material relied upon in support of the application is identified in a letter dated 2 June 2017 sent by Mr Mahmoud to my chambers. The basis for the application is set out in a detailed written document headed "Main Annexure A" attached to that letter. The letter and annexure will be marked for identification "MFI1" and placed on the file. 5. "Main Annexure A" is headed: The whole world is watching The slow cold blooded murder continues 1. In the body of the document, the appearance of which suggests that it has been copied to the email addresses of a large number of world leaders (with some notable exceptions), Mr Mahmoud has addressed paragraph by paragraph the reasons given in my earlier judgment. Without descending to the detail of the argument, in short, Mr Mahmoud asserts that parts of the judgment reveal my alleged bias and corruption. I have had regard to all of the assertions set out in Main Annexure A. I am not persuaded that a basis has been established for me to recuse myself in the proceedings. 2. As I informed Mr Mahmoud during argument, I do not hold any bias against him. For completeness, I might also observe that, contrary to an assumption expressed in Mr Mahmoud's written submissions, I am not a Christian. 3. The application is refused. ********** Amendments 15 June 2017 - Amendment to solicitor details on cover sheet DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 15 June 2017