Sydney Refractive Surgery & 3 Ors v Beaumont & 2 Ors [2002] NSWSC 638

Sydney Refractive Surgery & 3 Ors v Beaumont & 2 Ors [2002] NSWSC 638

Leave to amend was not futile because, except for the need for further particularisation concerning the imputations about the videotape falsely stating that no patient had gone blind from laser eye surgery, the pleaded facts and available inferences were capable of supporting substantial truth defences. The proposed Polly Peck defence did not justify refusal of leave because neither Chakravarti nor David Syme and Co Ltd v Hore-Lacy established that such a defence was unavailable in Victoria.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
19 July 2002
Procedural Posture
Defamation Proceedings / Application by Defendants for Leave to File and Rely on Amended Defences
Outcome
Leave granted to the defendants to file amended defences, subject to further particularisation of specified substantial truth imputations.
Legal Topics
['leave to Amend Defence' 'substantial Truth' 'contextual Truth' 'polly Peck Defence' 'particularisation of Justification' 'imputations Found by Jury']
['defamation' 'civil Procedure'] ['leave to Amend Defence' 'substantial Truth' 'contextual Truth' 'polly Peck Defence' 'particularisation of Justification' 'imputations Found by Jury']

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Procedural Posture

Defamation Proceedings / Application by Defendants for Leave to File and Rely on Amended Defences

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether leave should be granted to the defendants to file amended defences pleading substantial truth, contextual truth and, for the Victorian telecast, a Polly Peck defence.' 'Whether the proposed particulars of substantial truth were so inadequate that granting leave would be futile because the amended defences would inevitably be struck out.' 'Whether a Polly Peck defence was unavailable under Victorian defamation law so as to preclude its pleading in relation to the Victorian broadcast in a NSW court.']

Ratio Decidendi

Leave to amend was not futile because, except for the need for further particularisation concerning the imputations about the videotape falsely stating that no patient had gone blind from laser eye surgery, the pleaded facts and available inferences were capable of supporting substantial truth defences. The proposed Polly Peck defence did not justify refusal of leave because neither Chakravarti nor David Syme and Co Ltd v Hore-Lacy established that such a defence was unavailable in Victoria.

Court Disposition

Leave granted to the defendants to file amended defences, subject to further particularisation of specified substantial truth imputations.

Orders

  • ['The defendants are granted leave to file amended defences substantially in accordance with those the subject of the notice of motion.' 'Leave is subject to further particularisation of the substantial truth of the imputations referred to by the Court.']