PROTECTING REPUTATION DEFAMATION PRACTICE, PROCEDURE AND PRECEDENTS THE MANUAL by Peter Breen Protecting Reputation Defamation Practice, Procedure and Precedents THE MANUAL © Peter Breen 2014 Peter Breen & Associates Solicitors 164/78 William Street East Sydney NSW 2011 Tel: 0419 985 145 Fax: (02) 9331 3122 Email: [email protected] www.defamationsolicitor.com.au Contents Section 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Section 2 Current developments and recent cases ................................................. 5 Section 3 Relevant legislation and jurisdiction ..................................................... 11 3.1 Uniform Australian defamation laws since 2006 ........................................ 11 3.2 New South Wales law [Defamation Act 2005] ........................................... 11 3.3 Victoria law [Defamation Act 2005] .......................................................... 13 3.4 Queensland law [Defamation Act 2005] ..................................................... 13 3.5 Western Australia law [Defamation Act 2005] .......................................... 13 3.6 South Australia law [Defamation Act 2005] .............................................. 14 3.7 Tasmania law [Defamation Act 2005] ........................................................ 14 3.8 Northern Territory law [Defamation Act 2006] .......................................... 15 3.9 Australian Capital Territory law [Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002] ............. 15 3.10 United Kingdom law [Defamation Act 2013] ............................................ 16 3.11 A review of the uniform defamation laws .................................................. 16 Section 4 Alternatives to defamation proceedings ............................................... 19 4.1 Action for breach of the tort of privacy ...................................................... 19 4.2 Equitable doctrine of breach of confidence ................................................ 22 4.3 Claim for injunctive relief ........................................................................... 24 4.4 Misleading or deceptive conduct action...................................................... 28 4.5 Claim for injurious falsehood ..................................................................... 30 4.6 Statutory remedies for hate speech ............................................................. 32 4.7 The Australian Press Council ...................................................................... 36 4.8 The Australian Communications and Media Authority .............................. 38 4.9 Criminal Defamation ................................................................................... 41 Section 5 Before commencing proceedings ........................................................... 43 5.1 Defamation‘s colourful history ................................................................... 43 5.2 The nature of defamation ............................................................................ 45 5.3 What constitutes publication? ..................................................................... 48 5.4 Who has the right to sue? ............................................................................ 49 5.5 Do you sue the publisher or the author? ..................................................... 52 5.6 How much can you sue for? ........................................................................ 55 5.7 How much can you expect to receive?........................................................ 58 5.8 Who pays the legal costs? ........................................................................... 64 5.9 What are the risks of losing? ....................................................................... 64 5.10 Letter of demand – Concerns Notice .......................................................... 65 5.11 Pre-publication inquiries and preliminary discovery .................................. 68 Section 6 Commencing proceedings ...................................................................... 75 6.1 Time limitations .......................................................................................... 75 6.2 Deciding which court has jurisdiction ........................................................ 76 i 6.3 Was the defamatory material written or spoken? ....................................... 78 6.4 Identifying the defamatory imputations ...................................................... 82 6.5 Drafting the Statement of Claim ................................................................. 85 6.6 Filing and serving the documents ............................................................... 86 6.7 Appearing at court on the return date.......................................................... 87 6.8 Representing the Defendant ........................................................................ 88 Section 7 Defending proceedings ........................................................................... 89 7.1 Assessing the motives of the plaintiff ......................................................... 89 7.2 Filing and serving a Notice of Appearance ................................................. 92 7.3 Seeking further and better particulars of the claim ..................................... 93 7.4 Objecting to the Statement of Claim ........................................................... 94 7.5 The decision whether to get Counsel‘s advice ............................................ 96 7.6 Do you want a jury to hear the case? .......................................................... 96 7.7 Apologies and offers to make amends ........................................................ 98 7.8 Offers of Compromise .............................................................................. 102 Section 8 Available defences ................................................................................. 105 8.1 The plaintiff‘s imputations are true in substance ...................................... 105 8.2 The words complained of are contextually true ........................................ 108 8.3 Absolute privilege ..................................................................................... 110 8.4 Common law qualified privilege ............................................................... 112 8.5 Statutory qualified privilege ...................................................................... 114 8.6 Honest opinion (common law fair comment) ........................................... 118 8.7 Innocent dissemination ............................................................................. 121 8.8 Triviality – unlikelihood of harm .............................................................. 122 8.9 Defences defeated by malice ..................................................................... 123 Section 9 Interlocutory procedures ..................................................................... 127 9.1 Updating the short minutes of order ......................................................... 127 9.2 Seeking further and better particulars of the Defence .............................. 127 9.3 The plaintiff‘s Reply to the Defence ......................................................... 129 9.4 Seeking further and better particulars of the Reply .................................. 129 9.5 Considerations for further strike out applications ..................................... 130 9.6 The defendant‘s Answer to the Reply ....................................................... 131 9.7 Discovery of documents ............................................................................ 131 9.8 Administration of Interrogatories .............................................................. 133 9.9 Answers to Interrogatories ........................................................................ 134 Section 10 The trial .................................................................................................. 135 10.1 Considerations for jury trials ..................................................................... 135 10.2 Trials without juries (case study – the Dragon Boat case) ....................... 136 10.3 Evidence in support of the plaintiff‘s case ................................................ 174 10.4 Evidence in support of the defendant‘s case ............................................. 177 10.5 Final submissions for the plaintiff ............................................................ 178 10.6 Final submissions for the defendant .......................................................... 180 10.7 Calculation of damages ............................................................................. 181 ii 10.8 Interest on damages ................................................................................... 183 10.9 Costs including indemnity costs ............................................................... 184 Section 11 The ten rules for success in the defamation courts ............................ 189 Rule 1 Mere vulgar abuse is not defamatory ........................................................ 189 Rule 2 Free speech is worth protecting ................................................................ 189 Rule 3 What matters is the meaning of the words ................................................ 190 Rule 4 Testing the water before publication ......................................................... 190 Rule 5 Malice kills defences in defamation.........................................................