Burns v Gaynor (No. 2) [2019] NSWDC 552

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Burns v Gaynor (No. 2) [2019] NSWDC 552 Hearing dates: 1 August 2019; 12 September 2019 Date of orders: 10 October 2019 Decision date: 10 October 2019 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Pursuant to ss 61 and 67 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) and rr 12.7 and 13.4(1) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), these proceedings are dismissed as an abuse of process. (2) Noting that the plaintiff and second defendant are litigants in person, each of them is to bear his own disbursements and related costs in relation to these proceedings, with liberty to apply to vary this order, such liberty to be exercised in seven (7) days. Catchwords: TORT – defamation – remedies for Facebook publications – plaintiff brings proceedings for defamation (in the District Court) and for remedies under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) (in the NCAT) against a Facebook account holder the first defendant) and against the second defendant for his part of the publication on the first defendant's Facebook page – publication pleaded as being downloaded by four of the other participants in the Facebook debate – plaintiff obtains damages award in the NCAT and settles his claim in the defamation proceedings against the first defendant, who was the Facebook account holder – remaining defendant seeks dismissal of the claim as an abuse of process – plaintiff seeks summary dismissal of the defence – whether action liable to be dismissed as an abuse of process on the grounds of proportionality –whether multiple proceedings for different causes of action arising from the same publication may amount to abuse of process – whether the court resources required to determine the claim will be out of all proportion to the interest at stake – trial issues may include consideration of overlapping heads of damage and s 38 Defamation Act issues – likelihood that damages awarded would be very small – proceedings dismissed on the principles of proportionality Legislation Cited: Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 61 and 67 Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 23, 35 and 38 Human Rights Act 1998 (UK) Industrial Relations Act 1988 (Cth) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 12.7 and 13.4 Cases Cited: Aleksandrov & Ors v Dimovski & Ors [2005] NSWDC 19 Allstate Pumbing Pty Ltd v Crouch Developments Pty Ltd [No 2] [2011] WADC 60 Bailey v Bottrill (No 2) [2019] ACTSC 167 Bajramovic v Calubaquib [2015] NSWCA 139 Ballina Shire Council v Ringland (1994) 33 NSWLR 680 Bauer Media Pty Ltd & Anor v Wilson (No 2) [2018] VSCA 154 Bleyer v Google Inc (2014) 88 NSWLR 670 Bristow v Adams [2012] NSWCA 166 Burbank Australia Pty Ltd v Luzinat [2000] VSC 128 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 [2018] NSWDC 358 Burns v Smith [2019] NSWCATAD 56 Calabro v Zappia [2010] NSWDC 127 Chen v Premier Motor Services Pty Ltd t/as Premier Illawarra [2018] NSWCATAP 142 Cruddas v Calvert [2015] EWCA Civ 171 Cutler v McPhail [1962] 2 QB 292 Ehiozee v EDO Nigerian Association of New South Wales Incorporated [2012] NSWSC 239 Everett v Neale [2012] NSWDC 73 Ewing v Times Newspapers Ltd [2011] NIQB 63 Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited & Ors v Cummings; Fairfax Digital Australia and New Zealand Pty Limited & Anor v Cummings & Anor [2013] ACTCA 37 Farrow v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 246 Feldman v Daily Beast LLC [2017] NSWSC 831 Gibbs v Kinna [1998] VSCA 52 Giles v Jeffrey & Ors [2019] VSC 562 Gill v Eatts [1999] NSWSC 1056 Gill v Walton (1991) 25 NSWLR 190 GP v Mackenzie & Ors [2018] ACAT 96 GP v Mackenzie & Ors [2019] ACAT 32 Grizonic v Suttor [2008] NSWSC 914 Habib v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 231 Herron v HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd [2018] FCA 1495 Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2005] EWCA Civ 75; [2005] QB 946 Jeffery & Katauskas Pty Limited v SST Consulting Pty Ltd [2009] HCA 43 Josh Massoud v Harbour Radio Pty Limited; Josh Massoud v Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited; Josh Massoud v Australian Radio Network Pty Limited; Josh Massoud v Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Limited; Josh Massoud v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2019] NSWDC 403 Kermani v Westpac Banking Corporation [2012] VSCA 42 Leech v Silvester & Ors [2012] NSWSC 1367 Liang v University of Technology, Sydney [2018] NSWCATAP 285 Manefield v Child Care NSW [2010] NSWSC 1420 Melbourne City Investments Pty Ltd v Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (2016) 243 FCR 474 Michael Wilson & Partners Limited v Nicholls [2011] HCA 48 More (atf Cleopatra Skin Discretionary Trust) v Ford [2018] QCAT 19 Payne v APN News & Media [2016] QCATA 140 Port of Melbourne Authority v Anshun Pty Ltd (1981) 147 CLR 589 Singh v AusHomes Pty Ltd [2018] QCAT 312 Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302 Smith v Lucht [2016] QCA 267 Smits & Ors v Roach & Ors [2002] NSWSC 241 Toogood v Cassowary Coast Regional Council [2018] QCAT 319 UBS AG v Tyne (2018) 360 ALR 184 Vizovitis v Ryan [2012] ACTSC 155 Voller v Nationwide News Pty Ltd; Voller v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; Voller v Australian News Channel Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 766 Voth v Manildra Flour Mills Pty Ltd (1990) 171 CLR 538 Walton v Gardiner (1993) 112 ALR 289 Wilson v Bauer Media Pty Ltd & Anor [2017] VSC 521 Texts Cited: Gould, K., "Locating a 'Threshold of Seriousness' in the Australian Tests of Defamation" [2017] SydLawRw 15; (2017) 39(3) Sydney Law Review 333 New South Wales, Gazette, No 55, 31 May 2019, 1665 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Garry Burns First Defendant: Bernard Gaynor Second Defendant: Blair Smith Representation: Plaintiff: In person Second Defendant: In person File Number(s): 2018/159836 Publication restriction: None