O’Neill v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 655

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: O'Neill v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 655 Hearing dates: 28, 29, 30, 31 May 2018; 1, 4, 5 June 2018 Decision date: 11 July 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: Judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of $385,000 Catchwords: DEFAMATION – plaintiff ringside doctor at Green v Mundine boxing contest – imputation that doctor incompetently allowed boxer to continue fighting despite the fact that he suffered bleeding on the brain – imputation that doctor negligently endangered boxer's life by allowing him to continue fighting when he obviously had brain damage – imputation that plaintiff was such a reckless ringside doctor that he failed to stop a fight despite the fact that one of the boxers obviously had concussion – whether imputations conveyed

DEFAMATION – defences – honest opinion – section 31, Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) – whether defamation conveyed as fact or opinion of the author – whether based on proper material

DEFAMATION – defences – justification – section 25, Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) – whether imputations substantially true

DEFAMATION – damages – aggravated damages – where newspaper had previously admitted that the reference in the article to bleeding on the brain was incorrect but maintained truth defence in response to that imputation – mitigation – whether permissible to have regard to articles published by other media outlets Legislation Cited: Australian National Boxing Federation Rules and Regulations r 53 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) ss 6, 25, 31, 34, 35 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 r 15.21 Cases Cited: Associated Newspapers v Dingle [1964] AC 371 Bauer Media Pty Ltd v Wilson (No 2) (2018) 361 ALR 62; [2018] VSCA 154 Bickel v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd [1981] 2 NSWLR 474 Browne v Dunne (1893) 6 R 67 Burstein v Times Newspapers Ltd [2001] 1 WLR 579 Carolan v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 6) [2016] NSWSC 1091 Carson v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1993) 178 CLR 44; [1993] HCA 31 Chakravarti v Advertiser Newspapers Ltd (1998) 193 CLR 519; [1998] HCA 37 Channel Seven Adelaide Pty Ltd v Manock (2007) 232 CLR 245; [2007] HCA 60 Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd v Mahommed (2010) 278 ALR 232; [2010] NSWCA 335 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Alex [2014] NSWCA 273 Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 1035 Gacic v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd (2015) 89 NSWLR 538; [2015] NSWCA 99 Goldsbrough v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1934) 34 SR (NSW) 524 Green v Schneller [2000] NSWSC 548 Griffith v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2004] NSWCA 300 Harbour Radio Pty Ltd v Ahmed (2015) 90 NSWLR 695; [2015] NSWCA 290 Hawke v Tamworth Newspaper Co Ltd [1983] 1 NSWLR 699 Hockey v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (2015) 237 FCR 33; [2015] FCA 652 Holt v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (2014) 86 NSWLR 96; [2014] NSWCA 90 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298; [1959] HCA 8 Lewis v Daily Telegraph Ltd [1964] AC 234; [1963] 2 All ER 151 O'Brien v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2016] NSWSC 1289 O'Brien v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2017) 97 NSWLR 1; [2017] NSWCA 338 O'Shaughnessy v Mirror Newspapers (1970) 125 CLR 166; [1970] HCA 52 Pamplin v Express Newspapers Ltd (No 2) [1988] 1 All ER 282 Petritsis v Hellenic Herald Pty Ltd [1978] 2 NSWLR 174 Singleton v Ffrench (1986) 5 NSWLR 425 Triggell v Pheeney (1951) 82 CLR 497; [1951] HCA 23 Turner v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2006] 1 WLR 3469; [2006] 4 All ER 613 Texts Cited: McCrory P, Meeuwisse W, Aubrey M, et al. Consensus statement on concussion in sport - the 4th international conference on concussion in sport held in Zurich, November 2012. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 2013: 10.1097/JSM.obo13e31828b67cf Category: Principal judgment Parties: Dr John O'Neill (plaintiff) Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (first defendant) Peter FitzSimons (second defendant) Representation: Counsel: