Sims v Jooste [No 2]

[2016] WASCA 83

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Defamation
2. › Publication
3. › Internet publication
4. › Whether publication in the legal sense admitted on the pleadings
5. › Whether inference of publication could be drawn from posting material on internet site
6. › Distinction between publication in legal and non-legal sense
1. Defamation
2. › Publication
3. › Proof of publication
4. › Internet
5. › Whether inference of publication analogous to mass media applies to internet postings
6. › Need to plead and prove downloading or access by third party
1. Evidence
2. › Hearsay
3. › Tender of documents
4. › Computer screen print-off
5. › Letters from persons not called as witnesses
6. › Evidence Act 1906 (WA), s 79C

Quick Take

Practitioners bringing internet defamation claims in Western Australia must adduce evidence that the material was accessed or downloaded by a third party; mere posting on a website is insufficient to establish publication, and the mass media inference does not apply.