Fregnan v Stanizzo; Stanizzo v Badarne; Stanizzo v State of New South Wales [2020] NSWSC 402

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Fregnan v Stanizzo; Stanizzo v Badarne; Stanizzo v State of New South Wales [2020] NSWSC 402 Hearing dates: 12-15, 18-22 February, 16, 20-24, 27-29 May,3, 4, 7, 13, 25 June 2019 and 28 February 2020 Date of orders: 30 April 2020 Decision date: 30 April 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison J Decision: In proceedings 2012/129649: (1) Judgment for the plaintiff for $135,000 on the plaintiff's claim. (2) Judgment for the cross-defendant on the cross-claim. (3) Order the defendant/cross-claimant to pay the plaintiff/cross-defendant's costs of the proceedings.

In proceedings 2014/92425: (1) Judgment for the defendant. (2) Order the plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings.

In proceedings 2016/296293: (1) Judgment for the defendant. (2) Order the plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: TORTS – malicious prosecution – whether absence of reasonable and probable cause – whether proceedings instituted or maintained on sufficient grounds – whether prosecutor had actual knowledge of falsity of allegations – distinction between whether complainant motivated by malice or made false allegations and whether investigating detective suspected so – where material before detective sufficient to show allegations neither improbable nor false – where material sufficient to put accused on trial – where no improper purpose in prosecution – whether further inquiries could have been made – proper place and function of investigating detective