Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v King [2015] NSWCA 172

Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v King [2015] NSWCA 172

General and imprecise contextual imputations such as 'corrupt conduct' and 'serious corporate misconduct' do not provide sufficient notice to the plaintiff and are capable of further refinement. Contextual imputations must specify the act or condition attributed to the plaintiff with precision equivalent to that required of a plaintiff's imputations. The applicants failed to reach the required degree of specificity.

Parties
Applicant: Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; Applicant: The Age Company Pty Ltd; Applicant: The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd; Respondent: Wallace Macarthur King
Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
24 June 2015
Procedural Posture
Civil Appeal / Application for Leave to Appeal
Outcome
Application for leave to appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Contextual Imputations, Precision in Pleadings, Strike Out Applications
Defamation Law Civil Procedure Contextual Imputations Precision in Pleadings Strike Out Applications

Case Brief

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Parties

Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd

Applicant

The Age Company Pty Ltd

Applicant

The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd

Applicant

Wallace Macarthur King

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Civil Appeal / Application for Leave to Appeal

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the primary judge erred in striking out contextual imputations for being impermissibly imprecise
  2. 2 Whether less precision is permissible for contextual imputations pleaded by a defendant compared to plaintiff’s imputations
  3. 3 Application of specificity requirements for defamation defences under Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) and Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW)

Ratio Decidendi

General and imprecise contextual imputations such as 'corrupt conduct' and 'serious corporate misconduct' do not provide sufficient notice to the plaintiff and are capable of further refinement. Contextual imputations must specify the act or condition attributed to the plaintiff with precision equivalent to that required of a plaintiff's imputations. The applicants failed to reach the required degree of specificity.

Court Disposition

Application for leave to appeal dismissed

Orders

  • Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
  • The Applicants file and serve, within 7 days, any submissions, of no more than 3 pages, concerning the costs of the draft notice of contention filed by the Respondent on 16 February 2015.