Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Gayle; The Age Company Pty Ltd v Gayle; The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd v Gayle [2019] NSWCA 172

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Gayle; The Age Company Pty Ltd v Gayle; The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd v Gayle [2019] NSWCA 172 Hearing dates: 6 June 2019 Decision date: 16 July 2019 Before: Bell P at [1]; Gleeson JA at [4]; Leeming JA at [6] Decision: In each of proceedings 2018/374470, 2018/374472 and 2018/374464:

1. Appeal dismissed with costs.

2. Cross-appeal dismissed with costs. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – application to discharge jury – whether plaintiff's closing address went beyond pleaded case – whether submissions went beyond what had been put to witness in cross-examination – whether rule in Browne v Dunn breached – whether factual error about source of instructions to defendant – whether individual or cumulative effect of matters in closing address warranted discharge of jury

DEFAMATION – damages – aggravated damages – whether appellable error in failing to order aggravated damages – relevance of plaintiff's failure to adduce evidence of hurt from newspapers' publication of jury's verdict – relevance of identification of award of damages awarded in respect of each of three defendants' publications

DEFAMATION – statutory qualified privilege – reasonableness – whether publisher's conduct was reasonable – whether determined by judge or jury – meaning of "general law" – whether Herald & Weekly Times Ltd v Popovic (2003) 9 VR 1; [2003] VSCA 161 clearly wrong – whether reasonableness as element of Lange qualified privilege determined by judge or jury – Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 22, 30 considered Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 56, 57, 58 Criminal Code (Qld), s 377 Defamation (Amendment) Act 1994 (NSW) Defamation Amendment Act 2002 (NSW) Defamation Act 1901 (NSW) Defamation Act 1912 (NSW), ss 4, 28, 29, 30 Defamation Act 1958 (NSW), ss 17, 19 Defamation Act 1974 (NSW), ss 7A, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23, Sch 3 cl 3(1) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 4, 6, 22, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 35, 36 Defamation Law of Queensland (1889) (53 Vic No 12) Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth), ss 18, 40 Juries Act 1927 (SA), s 5 Law of Evidence – Parliamentary Printer's Protection Act 1849 (NSW) (13 Vic No 16), s 9 Libel Act 1792 (32 Geo III c 60) Libel Act 1847 (NSW) (11 Vic No 13) Supreme Court Act 1933 (ACT), s 22 Cases Cited: Aktas v Westpac Banking Corporation Ltd (2010) 241 CLR 79; [2010] HCA 25 Ashby v Slipper (2014) 219 FCR 322; [2014] FCAFC 15 Austin v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1984] 2 NSWLR 383 Austin v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1986] AC 299 Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v The Commonwealth (1992) 177 CLR 106; [1992] HCA 45 Bale v Mills (2011) 81 NSWLR 498; [2011] NSWCA 226 Belbin v Lower Murray Urban and Rural Water Corporation [2012] VSC 535 Bellino v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1996) 185 CLR 183; [1996] HCA 47 Brodie v Singleton Shire Council (2001) 206 CLR 512; [2001] HCA 29 Broome v Cassell & Co [1972] AC 1027 Browne v Dunn (1893) 6 R 67 Calwell v Ipec Australia Ltd (1975) 135 CLR 321; [1975] HCA 47 Carson v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1993) 178 CLR 44; [1993] HCA 31 Cerutti v Crestside Pty Ltd [2016] 1 Qd R 89; [2014] QCA 33 Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Kojic (2016) 249 FCR 421; [2016] FCAFC 186 Commonwealth v Bank of New South Wales (1949) 79 CLR 497; [1949] HCA 47 Crofts v The Queen (1996) 186 CLR 427; [1996] HCA 22 Croll v McRae (1930) 30 SR (NSW) 137 Daily Examiner Pty Ltd v Mundine [2012] NSWCA 195 Daniels v State of New South Wales (No 6) [2015] NSWSC 1074 Dare v Pulham (1982) 148 CLR 658; [1982] HCA 70 Davis v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2008) 71 NSWLR 606; [2008] NSWSC 699 Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Thomas (2016) 53 VR 546; [2016] VSCA 237 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Bateman (2015) 90 NSWLR 79; [2015] NSWCA 154 Farah Constructions Pty Ltd v Say-Dee Pty Ltd (2007) 230 CLR 89; [2007] HCA 22 Fitzpatrick v Walter E Cooper Pty Ltd (1935) 54 CLR 200; [1935] HCA 82 Gammage v The Queen (1969) 122 CLR 444; [1969] HCA 68 Gayle v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 2) [2018] NSWSC 1838 Hasler v Singtel Optus Pty Ltd (2014) 87 NSWLR 609; [2014] NSWCA 266 Hebditch v MacIlwaine [1894] 2 QB 54 Herald & Weekly Times Ltd v Popovic (2003) 9 VR 1; [2003] VSCA 161 Hudspeth v Scholastic Cleaning and Consultancy Services Pty Ltd (2014) 42 VR 236; [2014] VSCA 3 Hunter v Sharpe (1866) 4 F & F 983; 176 ER 875 Justin v Associated Newspapers [1967] 1 NSWR 61 Kesavarajah v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 230; [1994] HCA 41 Kuru v State of New South Wales (2008) 236 CLR 1; [2008] HCA 26 Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2019] UKSC 27 Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520; [1997] HCA 25 Leon Fink Holdings Pty Ltd v Australian Film Commission (1979) 141 CLR 672; [1979] HCA 26 McKell v The Queen [2019] HCA 5; (2019) 93 ALJR 309 Merivale v Carson (1887) 20 QBD 275 Morgan v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1988) 13 NSWLR 208 Morosi v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1977] 2 NSWLR 749 Newling v Metlife Insurance Ltd [2019] NSWCA 149 Ng v R [2011] NSWCCA 227; 214 A Crim R 191 Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills (1992) 177 CLR 1; [1992] HCA 46 Oneflare Pty Ltd v Chernih [2017] NSWCA 195 Parmiter v Coupland (1840) 6 M & W 105; 151 ER 340 Paterson v The Queen (2004) 28 WAR 223; [2004] WASCA 63 Rees v Bailey Aluminium Products Pty Ltd (2008) 21 VR 478; [2008] VSCA 244 Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd [2001] 2 AC 127 Risk Allah Bey v Whitehurst (1868) 18 LT(NS) 615 Rodway v The Queen (1990) 169 CLR 515; [1990] HCA 19 SKA v The Queen (2011) 243 CLR 400; [2011] HCA 13 Stace v Griffith (1869) LR 2 PC 420 State of New South Wales v Hunt (2014) 86 NSWLR 226; [2014] NSWCA 47 Stephens v West Australian Newspapers Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 211; [1994] HCA 45 Taylor v Edwards [1967] 1 NSWR 689 TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd v Pahuja [2019] NSWCA 166 Telegraph Newspaper Co Ltd v Bedford (1934) 50 CLR 632; [1934] HCA 15 Theophanous v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 104; [1994] HCA 46 Uren v John Fairfax & Sons Pty Ltd (1966) 117 CLR 118; [1966] HCA 40 Western Australia v The Commonwealth (1995) 183 CLR 373; [1995] HCA 47 Wilson v Bauer Media Pty Ltd [2017] VSC 521 Younan v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2013] NSWCA 335 Texts Cited: J Dietrich and I Field, "Statute and Theories of Vicarious Liability" (2019) Melbourne University Law Review (forthcoming) M Gillooly, The Law of Defamation in Australia and New Zealand (The Federation Press, 1998) K Gould, "The more things change, the more they stay the same ... or do they?" (2007) 12 Media and Arts Law Review 29 J D Heydon, Cross on Evidence (11th ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2017) A Kenyon and S Walker, "The Cost of Losing the Code: Historical Protection of Public Debate in Australian Defamation Law" (2014) 38 Melbourne University Law Review 554 P Mitchell, The Making of the Modern Law of Defamation (Hart Publishing, 2005) P Mitchell, "The Foundations of Australian Defamation Law" (2006) 28 Sydney Law Review 477 NSW Law Reform Commission, LRC 11, 1971 D Rolph, "The Sources of Defamation Law" in Gleeson, Watson & Peden (eds), Historical Foundations of Australian Law: Vol II (The Federation Press, 2013) P Vines and S Donald, Statutory Interpretation in Private Law (The Federation Press 2019) C Walsh, "The Defamation Act 1958 and the Common Law" (Council for Advanced Legal Studies, NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (Appellant in 2018/374470) The Age Company Pty Ltd (Appellant in 2018/374472) The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd (Appellant in 2018/374464) Chris Gayle (Respondent in each appeal) Representation: Counsel: M J Collins QC, M Lewis (Appellants) K Smark SC, M Richardson (Respondent)