Under the majority view, a party dissatisfied with a jury verdict in civil proceedings in the District Court of NSW must apply for a new trial under s 126 of the District Court Act 1973 before judgment is entered; there is no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from a judgment entered on a jury verdict under s 127. The Court of Appeal's powers under ss 106 and 107 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 are confined to quantum appeals and do not extend to challenges to jury findings on liability. Rothman J dissented, holding that s 127 confers an unqualified right of appeal and that general statutory powers are sufficient to allow the Court to order a new trial. On defamation, the case confirms that whether a publisher is liable for republishing defamatory allegations of a third party depends on an assessment of the article as a whole, not on whether the publisher expressly endorsed the allegations.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 6 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 6 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.