Voelte v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (No 4) [2016] NSWSC 1012

Voelte v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (No 4) [2016] NSWSC 1012

Because both parties consented and the principal focus of the defence was defamatory meaning after the ABC abandoned justification, the jury's task was confined to whether the pleaded imputations were conveyed and defamatory. The transcript was not provided to the jury because the short broadcast was available as an...

Source-derived case information.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
21 July 2016
Procedural Posture
Defamation Proceedings / Publication of Reserved Reasons for Rulings Given During the Jury Trial and Costs After Verdict for the Defendant
Outcome
Verdict for the defendant; plaintiff ordered to pay the defendant's costs on the ordinary basis except for costs of the abandoned justification defences; applications for indemnity costs and for the plaintiff's costs of abandoned defences rejected.
Legal Topics
['defamatory Meaning in Jury Trial' 'transcript of Television Broadcast' 'justification Defences' 'calderbank Offer' 'indemnity Costs']
['defamation' 'civil Procedure' 'evidence' 'costs'] ['defamatory Meaning in Jury Trial' 'transcript of Television Broadcast' 'justification Defences' 'calderbank Offer' 'indemnity Costs']

Source-derived case record

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Procedural Posture

Defamation Proceedings / Publication of Reserved Reasons for Rulings Given During the Jury Trial and Costs After Verdict for the Defendant

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the questions for the jury should be confined to whether the matter complained of conveyed the pleaded imputations and whether any conveyed imputations were defamatory.' 'Whether a transcript of the television broadcast should be provided to the jury as an aid where the audio-visual recording was in evidence.' "Whether the plaintiff should pay the defendant's costs on the ordinary basis excluding costs of abandoned justification defences." "Whether the defendant should pay the plaintiff's costs thrown away by reason of abandoned justification defences." "Whether the plaintiff's non-acceptance of the defendant's Calderbank offer justified indemnity costs."]

Ratio Decidendi

Because both parties consented and the principal focus of the defence was defamatory meaning after the ABC abandoned justification, the jury's task was confined to whether the pleaded imputations were conveyed and defamatory. The transcript was not provided to the jury because the short broadcast was available as an audio-visual exhibit and a transcript risked distracting the jury from assessing the impression on the ordinary reasonable viewer. After the jury found the imputations were not conveyed, the defendant was entitled to ordinary costs except for abandoned justification costs; neither party recovered costs of those abandoned defences, and indemnity costs were refused because it...

Court Disposition

Verdict for the defendant; plaintiff ordered to pay the defendant's costs on the ordinary basis except for costs of the abandoned justification defences; applications for indemnity costs and for the plaintiff's costs of abandoned defences rejected.

Orders

  • ["Subject to any existing costs orders, the plaintiff pay the defendant's costs as assessed on the ordinary basis except for the costs of the abandoned justification defences, which include the costs of the expert report of Dr Austin." "The defendant's application to have part of those costs assessable on the...