Bailey v WIN Television NSW Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 232

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Bailey v WIN Television NSW Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 232 Hearing dates: 2-12 December 2019; 13 March 2020 Date of orders: 24 March 2020 Decision date: 24 March 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Fagan J Decision: Judgment for the first and second defendants. Catchwords: DEFAMATION – defamatory matter – pleaded imputations not conveyed – plaintiff not defamed

DEFAMATION – defences – statutory defence of qualified privilege – facts determined on contingent and hypothetical basis – whether matter of public interest – whether media organisation's conduct in publishing was reasonable – defence of contextual truth – whether plaintiff's imputations would cause further harm notwithstanding the truth of contextual imputations – defence of honest opinion Legislation Cited: Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) Cases Cited: Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd v Marsden (1998) 43 NSWLR 158 Barbaro v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd (1989) 20 NSWLR 493 Carolan v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (No 6) [2016] NSWSC 1091 Collier v Country Women's Association of NSW [2017] NSWSC 153 Cummings v Fairfax Digital Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd [2018] NSWCA 325 Dansar Pty Ltd v Byron Shire Council [2013] NSWSC 17 Feldman v Polaris Media Pty Ltd (No 2) [2018] NSWSC 1035 Fraser v Holmes [2009] NSWCA 36 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Blake (2001) 53 NSWLR 541 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Rivkin [2003] HCA 50 Harbour Radio Pty Ltd v Ahmed [2011] NSWCA 290 Holmes v Fraser [2008] NSWSC 570 Kelman v Mutton [2007] NSWSC 13 Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No 7) [2019] FCA 496 Mirror Newspaper Limited v Harrison (1982) 149 CLR 293 Morgan v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 374 Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Heggie [2001] NSWCA 257 O'Brien v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2016] NSWSC 1289 O'Brien v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2017) 97 NSWLR 1; [2017] NSW CA 338 Ross McConnel Kitchen & Co Pty Ltd v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd [1980] 2 NSWLR 845 Trkulja v Google LLC [2018] HCA 25 Zaia v Eshow [2017] NSWSC 1540 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Roger Bailey (plaintiff) WIN Television NSW Pty Ltd (first defendant) Win Corporation Pty Ltd (second defendant) Maree Statham (third defendant) Representation: Counsel: L Barnett with AR Spies (plaintiff) S Chrysanthou (first and second defendants) M Richardson (third defendant)