1 Apr 2022
CLARKE v FOURTH ESTATE HOLDINGS (2012) LTD [2022] NZHC 649
- Citation
- [2022] NZHC 649
- Court
- High Court
The Court ordered a separate preliminary hearing under r 10.15 to determine whether the challenged sentence is capable of bearing the pleaded defamatory meanings because there were no difficult demarcation issues, the determination could be made objectively from the article, a ruling in defendants' favour would dispose of the proceeding and save resources, and the likely duplication and delay were outweighed by those considerations; a half-day hearing was directed for 23 June 2022 with procedural timetabling orders.