The Court held that costs assessors under the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW) exercise functions sufficiently judicial in nature to attract the common law doctrine of judicial immunity, and that absolute privilege accordingly extends to all participants in costs assessment proceedings, including persons making submissions to the assessor. Defamation proceedings based on allegedly defamatory submissions made to a costs assessor were summarily dismissed on this basis. The Court also held that the statutory bar under s 12B of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) for non-compliance with a concerns notice was not sufficiently clear-cut to warrant summary dismissal, particularly given the court's curative power under s 12B(3) and the arguable unreasonableness of the particulars request.
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