Imielska v Morgan [2017] NSWDC 329

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Imielska v Morgan [2017] NSWDC 329 Hearing dates: 22 November 2017 Date of orders: 22 November 2017 Decision date: 22 November 2017 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Pursuant to ss 60 and 67 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) and rr 13.4 and 14.28 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), the plaintiff's statement of claim is dismissed. (2) Plaintiff to pay defendant's costs. (3) Liberty to apply in relation to costs. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – plaintiff brings proceedings for defamation in relation to letters sent by the defendant in the course of determination of her complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service – plaintiff seeks extension of time to commence proceedings against a second defendant and to amend her claim – defendant seeks dismissal of claim on the basis of abuse of process – whether the proceedings should be dismissed on the proportionality principles discussed in Bleyer v Google – whether the claim was an abuse of process by reason of the terms of contract the plaintiff had signed with the FOS or at common law by reason of her consent to the complaint process – whether the claim was an abuse of process by reason of seeking to go behind court and complaint findings – whether the defective pleading and content of the claim should disentitle the plaintiff to replead – claim struck out as an abuse of process Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), Part 5, ss 41 and 43A Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56-62 and 67 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), s 33 Limitation Act 1969 (NSW), ss 14B and 56A Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 6.24, 13.4, 14.28 and 19.2 Cases Cited: Al-Shennag v Statewide Roads Pty Ltd [2010] NSWSC 1412 Austen v Ansett Transport Industries (Operations) Pty Ltd [1993] FCA 403 Bleyer v Google Inc (2014) 88 NSWLR 670 Calabro v Zappia (2010) 11 DCLR (NSW) 12 Carey v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2012] NSWCA 176 Cassar v Network Ten Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 680 Cush v Dillon; Boland v Dillon (2011) 243 CLR 298 Dillon v Cush; Dillon v Boland [2010] NSWCA 165 Dudzinski v Kellow [1999] FCA 1264 Dudzinski v Kellow (1999) 59 ALD 625 Enders v Erbas Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 170 Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 246 Ghosh v NineMSN Pty Ltd (2015) 90 NSWLR 595 Google Inc v Duffy [2017] SASCFC 130 Habib v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 231 Hanrahan v Ainsworth (1985) 1 NSWLR 370 Hatfield v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (No 2) [2011] NSWSC 737 Imielska v Tregillis (Local Court of Blacktown, 30 May 2017) Irving v Lipstadt [2000] EWHC QB 115 Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2005] EWCA Civ 75 Jones v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 364 Manefield v Association of Quality Child Care Centres of NSW Inc (t/as Child Care NSW) [2010] NSWSC 1420 Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Services Ltd [2012] VSCA 185 Pingel v Toowoomba Newspapers Pty Ltd [2010] QCA 175 Rayney v State of Western Australia (No 3) [2010] WASC 83 Ridgeway v The Queen (1995) 184 CLR 19 Schellenberg v British Broadcasting Commission [2000] EMLR 296 Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302 Toben v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2016) 93 NSWLR 639 Trantum v McDowell [2007] NSWCA 138 Wallis v Valentine [2002] All ER (D) 275 (Jul) Walton v Gardiner (1993) 177 CLR 378 Williams v Spautz (1991) 174 CLR 509 Wookey v Quigley (No 2) [2010] WASC 209 YZ v Amazon (No 7) [2016] NSWSC 637 Zarth v Williamson [2007] NSWCA 246 Texts Cited: Brown, R E, Brown on Defamation (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States), Second Edition (formerly The Law of Defamation in Canada) (Carswell) Gould, K, "Locating a 'Threshold of Seriousness' in the Australian Tests of Defamation" (2017) 39(3) Sydney Law Review 333 Category: Principal judgment Parties: First Plaintiff: Grazyna Imielska Second Plaintiff: Michal Imielska Defendant: Sam Morgan Representation: Counsel: First Plaintiff: In person Second Plaintiff: No appearance Defendant: Ms S Chrysanthou