Oueik v Foley [2017] NSWSC 1324

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Oueik v Foley [2017] NSWSC 1324 Hearing dates: 6 October 2016 Date of orders: 03 October 2017 Decision date: 03 October 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Rothman J Decision: (1) Leave for the plaintiff to file a Further Amended Statement of Claim refused;

(2) Proceedings dismissed;

(3) Plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs of and incidental to the proceedings;

(4) Any party may seek a special or different order as to costs by application and submission of no more than five pages, attaching any relevant document not otherwise before the Court, within 14 days of the date of this judgment. Any party affected by any such application may reply by the same method within 14 days of receipt of the application. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – imputations pleaded – capacity to arise from limited nature of publication – conjecture as to entirety of publication – responsibility for re-publication – different context, sense and substance – dishonest or dishonourable – conduct as a candidate for office not as holder of office – imputations do not arise – damage trivial. Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005, s 33 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, r 14.28 Cases Cited: Australian Consolidated Press v Bond (1984) 56 ACTR 14 Bond Corporation Holdings Ltd v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (unreported, Court of Appeal, matter number 40031 of 1989, 28 June 1989) Jones v Skelton [1963] SR (NSW) 644 Sims v Wran [1984] 1 NSWLR 317 Stubbs Ltd v Russell [1913] AC 386 R v Salvo [1980] VR 401 Texts Cited: Gatley on Libel & Slander, (12th ed, 2013, Thompson Reuters) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Ronney Oueik (Plaintiff) Luke Aquinas Foley (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: K Smark SC (Plaintiff) M Richardson (Defendant)