Kay & Anor v Chesser & Anor

[1999] VSCA 83

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Defamation
2. › Damages
3. › Corporate plaintiff
4. › Nature of damages recoverable by corporation
5. › Whether damages at large or confined to financial and commercial considerations
6. › Whether discovery of financial documents should be ordered where no special damages claimed
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Discovery
3. › Particular discovery
4. › County Court Defamation Division
5. › Discretion to refuse order
6. › Whether discretion properly exercised
7. › County Court Rules, Ch I, R 29.08, R 34A.17
1. Appeal
2. › Standard of appellate review
3. › Interlocutory orders
4. › Discovery
5. › Whether order involved error of principle or was clearly wrong

Quick Take

A corporate plaintiff in defamation cannot recover damages 'at large' in the manner of an individual; its damages must be assessed by reference to financial and commercial considerations, including goodwill. Accordingly, the corporation's financial documents (tax returns, balance sheets, profit and loss statements) are discoverable even where no special damages are claimed. The English decision in Calvet v Tomkies does not restrict Victorian courts from ordering such discovery.