Tabbaa v Nine Network Pty Ltd (No.11) [2018] NSWSC 389

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Tabbaa v Nine Network Pty Ltd (No.11) [2018] NSWSC 389 Hearing dates: 20-24 and 27-30 November 2017; 1, 4-6, 11-15 and 18-21 December 2017; 5 February 2018 Date of orders: 19 April 2018 Decision date: 19 April 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Fagan J Decision: 1. The costs to be paid by the plaintiff under the costs order made against her on 21 December 2017 are to be assessed and payable on the indemnity basis.

2. In the assessment of the costs of the proceedings awarded against the plaintiff the defendant's costs of the trial and post-verdict hearing on 5 February 2018 are to be taken to be one third of its total costs of the entire trial and post-verdict hearing. Catchwords: COSTS – party/party – bases of quantification – indemnity basis – defamation – defamatory imputations found proven substantially true – jury answers construed as implicitly finding plaintiff deliberately untruthful – false or misleading evidence – where claim pursued on a basis known to be false – whether pursuit of claim was abuse of process Legislation Cited: Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 98(1) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Cases Cited: Chaina v Alvaro Homes Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 353 Degmam Pty Ltd (In Liq) v Wright (No 2) [1983] 2 NSWLR 354 Fountain Selected Meats (Sales) Pty Ltd v International Produce Merchants Pty Ltd (1988) 81 ALR 397 R v Hayward [2017] NSWSC 1170 Tabbaa v Nine Network Pty Ltd (No.1) (Supreme Court (NSW), Fagan J, 23 November 2017, unrep) Category: Costs Parties: Pamela Tabbaa (plaintiff) Nine Network Pty Ltd (defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr Clive Evatt/Mr Roger Rasmussen/Mr William Evatt (plaintiffs) Mr Alexander Dawson SC/Ms Monique Cowden (defendant)