McLachlan v Browne (No 7) [2018] NSWSC 1914

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: McLachlan v Browne (No 7) [2018] NSWSC 1914 Hearing dates: 23, 26, 28 November, 7 December 2018 Date of orders: 03 November 2018 Decision date: 11 December 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: I grant leave to the defendants in the Fairfax proceedings to amend their defence so as to include a contextual imputation "that the plaintiff is a sexual predator in that he has indecently assaulted, exposed himself to and sexually harassed female colleagues in the workplace"; I grant leave to the defendants in the ABC proceedings to amend their defence so as to include a contextual imputation "that the plaintiff is a sexual predator in that he has indecently assaulted and sexually harassed female colleagues in the workplace"; The defendants' application for leave to re-plead is otherwise refused. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – defences – contextual truth Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 25, 26 Cases Cited: Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Hodgkinson [2005] NSWCA 190 Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1990) 21 NSWLR 135 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v King [2015] NSWCA 172 Fairfax Media Publications v Zeccola [2015] NSWCA 329 Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1889 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Proceedings 2018/34244: Craig McLachlan (plaintiff) Christie Whelan Browne (first defendant) Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (second defendant)