Whiting v Herald and Weekly Times Pty Limited [2018] NSWDC 372

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Whiting v Herald and Weekly Times Pty Limited [2018] NSWDC 372 Hearing dates: 29 November 2018 Date of orders: 06 December 2018 Decision date: 06 December 2018 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Amended Reply struck out. (2) Leave to serve (but not file) a draft Further Amended Reply by 14 February 2019. (3) Leave to the defendant to file a Further Amended Defence. (4) Plaintiff pay the defendant's costs of both applications. (5) The parties have liberty to bring in Short Minutes of Order reflecting a timetable. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – application to strike out Reply – application to strike out defence of honest opinion – no issue of principle Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 14.28 Cases Cited: Bickel v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd [1981] 2 NSWLR 474 Gross v Weston [2007] NSWCA 1 Harrigan v Jones [2000] NSWSC 814 Kay v Cunningham [1995] SASC 5242 Lewis v Page (Supreme Court of New South Wales, Hunt J, 19 July 1989) Mirror Newspapers Ltd v Fitzpatrick [1984] 1 NSWLR 643 Texts Cited: Professor R E Brown, Brown on Defamation (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States), Second Edition (formerly The Law of Defamation in Canada) (Thomson Reuters) Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Plaintiff: Ashleigh Whiting Defendant: Herald and Weekly Times Pty Limited Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr R Rasmussen Defendant: Ms L Barnett