DEFAMATION — practice and procedure — application for leave to amend defence to include further particulars relevant to justification and contextual truth — whether particulars are capable of sustaining the truth of the relevant imputations
Quick Take
1Proposed particulars of truth in a defamation defence should be permitted where, taken at their highest, they are capable of proving the truth of the relevant imputations; the court must exercise curial caution at the interlocutory stage and not resolve factual issues better determined at trial.
2The Scott v Sampson exclusionary rule does not preclude evidence of specific incidents where those incidents are properly admitted in relation to a defence of justification or contextual truth and relate to the sector of the plaintiff's reputation with which the imputations are concerned.
3A successful legal challenge to the validity of an administrative decision does not deprive the underlying conduct of relevance to a defamation truth defence, where the question at trial concerns the merits and manner of the decision rather than its legality.
