Haklane & Ors v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2002] NSWSC 341

Haklane & Ors v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd [2002] NSWSC 341

The ordinary reasonable reader could understand the article's reference to Julie Haklane's 'family' as referring to her immediate family, a small class comprising her parents and siblings, so that each plaintiff could be identified and defamed if the matter carried the pleaded imputations. The matter was capable of conveying that a plaintiff was a criminal and was connected to the underworld, and those imputations differed in substance. The third imputation, that the plaintiff associates with the criminal Bayeh brothers, was vague, not anchored to the language of the publication, and not materially distinct from the underworld connection imputation, so it was struck out.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
26 April 2002
Procedural Posture
Defamation Proceedings / Interlocutory Determination of Strike Out, Capacity and Separate Trial Issues
Outcome
Imputations (a) and (b) allowed to proceed; imputation (c) struck out; defendant ordered to pay the plaintiffs' costs and directions made for a s 7A jury trial.
Legal Topics
['identification' 'class Libel' 'family as a Class' 'defamatory Imputations' 'capacity' 'strike Out' 'section 7 a Jury Trial']
['defamation Law' 'civil Procedure'] ['identification' 'class Libel' 'family as a Class' 'defamatory Imputations' 'capacity' 'strike Out' 'section 7 a Jury Trial']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Defamation Proceedings / Interlocutory Determination of Strike Out, Capacity and Separate Trial Issues

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ["Whether the pleading should be struck out as disclosing no reasonable cause of action because the reference to the deceased's family was an indeterminate class." "Whether the article was capable of identifying each plaintiff as a member of the deceased's family." 'Whether the matter complained of was capable of carrying the pleaded imputations that each plaintiff is a criminal and is connected to the underworld.' 'Whether the imputation that each plaintiff associates with the criminal Bayeh brothers should be struck out.']

Ratio Decidendi

The ordinary reasonable reader could understand the article's reference to Julie Haklane's 'family' as referring to her immediate family, a small class comprising her parents and siblings, so that each plaintiff could be identified and defamed if the matter carried the pleaded imputations. The matter was capable of conveying that a plaintiff was a criminal and was connected to the underworld, and those imputations differed in substance. The third imputation, that the plaintiff associates with the criminal Bayeh brothers, was vague, not anchored to the language of the publication, and not materially distinct from the underworld connection imputation, so it was struck out.

Court Disposition

Imputations (a) and (b) allowed to proceed; imputation (c) struck out; defendant ordered to pay the plaintiffs' costs and directions made for a s 7A jury trial.

Orders

  • ['Imputations (a) and (b) are capable of being carried by the matter complained of, are capable being defamatory and differ in substance.' 'Imputation (c) is struck out.' 'Within 14 days of today the plaintiff is to provide the particulars of the identity of the persons to whom the Particulars of Identification were...