Age Corporation Limited v Beran

[2005] NSWCA 289

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Defamation
2. › Pleading
3. › Matter complained of
4. › Two articles in same newspaper on different pages
5. › Whether articles must be pleaded as one publication or may be pleaded separately
6. › Whether articles so connected that ordinary reader would read them as one publication
7. › Defamation Act 1974 (NSW)
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Abuse of process
3. › Re-litigation of issues
4. › Previous unsuccessful proceedings against different defendant in respect of similar publication
5. › Whether proceedings an abuse of process
6. › Anshun estoppel
7. › Whether issues sufficiently similar
1. Defamation
2. › Identification
3. › Plaintiff not named in one article
4. › Reliance on second article for identification in first
5. › Whether reliance on second article for identification requires pleading as single publication

Quick Take

Where two articles in the same newspaper appear on different pages without prominent cross-referencing or indications of unity, a plaintiff may plead them as separate publications. The fact that a plaintiff relies on one article to identify the plaintiff in the other does not require them to be pleaded as one publication. Unsuccessful proceedings against a different defendant in respect of similar but not identical material in a different newspaper do not render subsequent proceedings an abuse of process.