Burns v Gaynor [2018] NSWDC 358

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Burns v Gaynor [2018] NSWDC 358 Hearing dates: 8 November 2018 Date of orders: 30 November 2018 Decision date: 30 November 2018 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) First defendant's Notice of Motion dismissed. (2) Stand over the plaintiff's application for substituted service on the second defendant on Thursday 6 December 2018 in the Defamation List. (3) Any claim by the plaintiff for reasonable disbursements by way of a costs order is reserved. (4) Parties have liberty to bring in Short Minutes of order for a timetable in these proceedings. Catchwords: TORT – abuse of process – plaintiff brings a series of proceedings against the first defendant under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) – first defendant brings proceedings for defamation against plaintiff – plaintiff abandons his most recent anti-discrimination claim for publications by the first defendant after adverse High Court jurisdictional rulings – whether the plaintiff's claim for defamation based on those same publications should be struck out as an abuse of process on the basis of the plaintiff having an ancillary dominant improper purpose, namely the intimidation of the first defendant – whether the defamation proceedings are an abuse of process because they are brought in lieu of a claim under anti-discrimination legislation which is impermissible at law – whether action liable to be stayed or dismissed as an abuse of process on the grounds that the legal costs and court resources required to determine the claim will be out of all proportion to the interest at stake – whether the claim should be struck out on the basis that liability for publication cannot be made out – application for summary dismissal refused Legislation Cited: Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), s 49ZT Civil Liability Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56 – 62 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Art 10 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth), ss 23 and 31A International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art 19 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 13.4 and 14.28 Cases Cited: Ainsworth v James [2005] NSWSC 338 Ballina Shire Council v Ringland (1994) 33 NSWLR 680 Balzola v Burns [2018] NSWCATAD 246 Bleyer v Google Inc (2015) 88 NSWLR 670 Bristow v Adams [2012] NSWCA 166 Burns v Corbett; Burns v Gaynor; Attorney General for NSW v Burns; Attorney General for NSW v Burns; NSW v Burns (2018) 353 ALR 386 Burns v Gaynor [2015] NSWCATAD 211 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Knox No 3 WAP 2017 (21 August 2018) Culleton v Kershaw (No 2) [2018] WASC 236 Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd [1993] AC 534 Dow Jones & Co Inc v Jameel [2005] EWCA Civ 75 Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 246 Gaynor v Burns [2015] NSWDC 194 Gaynor v Burns (No 2) [2015] NSWDC 283 Gaynor v Burns [2016] NSWCA 44 General Steel Industries Inc v Commissioner for Railways (NSW) (1964) 112 CLR 125 Ghosh v Miller (No 2) [2018] NSWCA 212 Gill v Eatts (1999) Aust Torts Reports 81-529 Goldsmith v Sperrings Ltd [1977] 1 WLR 478 Google Inc v Duffy (2017) 129 SASR 304 Habib v Radio 2UE Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 347 Hanrahan v Ainsworth (1990) 22 NSWLR 73 Herron v HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd [2018] FCA 1495 Johnson v Gore Wood & Co [2002] 2 AC 1 Joyce v Sengupta (1993) 1 WLR 347 Kalsbeek v Commonwealth [2018] WADC 79 Lazarus v Azize [2015] ACTSC 344 Lonhro Plc v Fayed & Ors (No 5) [1994] 1 All E R 188 Mahommed v Unicomb [2018] NSWSC 291 Manefield v Child Care NSW [2010] NSWSC 1420 Morris v IMF Bentham Ltd [2018] FCA 1009 Nyoni v Pharmacy Board (No 6) [2018] FCA 526 Sarina v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd [2018] FCAFC 190 Spencer v Commonwealth of Australia (2010) 241 CLR 118 Trkulja v Google LLC (2018) 356 ALR 178 UBS AG v Tyne [2018] HCA 45 Un v Chow [2018] NSWCA 287 Williams v Spautz (1992) 174 CLR 509 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Garry Burns First Defendant: Bernard Gaynor Second Defendant: Blair Smith Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: In person Defendants: Mr R Rasmussen