Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 246

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 246 Hearing dates: 13 September 2017 Date of orders: 13 September 2017 Decision date: 28 September 2017 Before: Basten JA at [1] Sackville AJA at [6] McCallum J at [12] Decision: 1. Pursuant to s 7 of the Felons (Civil Proceedings) Act 1981 (NSW), grant the respondent leave to appear and be represented in this proceeding. 2. Pursuant to s 6(2) of the Felons (Civil Proceedings) Act 1981 (NSW) refuse the applicant leave to appeal from the judgments and orders made in the District Court on 27 February 2017 and 2 March 2017. 3. Order that the applicant pay the respondent's costs in this Court. Catchwords: PRISONERS – civil proceedings – application by prisoner for leave to institute proceedings for defamation in the District Court – appeal against judge's refusal of leave – statement of claim including true imputations and imputations relating to findings and evidence at proceedings on sentence – whether proceedings are an abuse of process

DEFAMATION – imputations – whether the pleading of incontrovertibly true imputations by a plaintiff amounts to an abuse of process Legislation Cited: Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), s 307.2 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 42 Felons (Civil Proceedings) Act 1981 (NSW), ss 4, 5, 6(2), 7 Cases Cited: Application of Potier [2012] NSWCA 222 Bleyer v Google (2014) 88 NSWLR 670; [2014] NSWSC 897 Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 28 Plato Films Ltd v Speidel [1961] AC 1090 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Simone Farrow (applicant) Nationwide News Pty Ltd (respondent) Representation: Counsel: C Evatt, R Rasmussen (applicant) ATS Dawson SC, C Amato (respondent)