Aaren Pty Ltd trading as Price Beat Travel v Arya

Aaren Pty Ltd trading as Price Beat Travel, a travel agency, brought an action against Arya, who had published defamatory statements about the plaintiff on a Facebook group page. The plaintiff alleged that the defamatory statements were made following a dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant regarding the defendant’s travel arrangements to India. The case was heard and determined in the Local Court of New South Wales.

The court had to determine whether the statements made by the defendant were defamatory, whether the plaintiff had the capacity to sue, and whether the defendant had any available defences. The court needed to examine the meaning of the word “employs” in the context of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) s 9(2)(b) and decide whether the plaintiff qualified as a corporation not related to another corporation for the purposes of bringing a defamation action. Additionally, the court had to consider the defences of justification, statutory privilege, common law qualified privilege, malice, and honest opinion, as well as the plaintiff's claim for damages.

The court held that the statements made by the defendant were indeed defamatory. The plaintiff had the capacity to sue as it did not have more than 10 employees and was not a related corporation. The defences of justification, statutory privilege, common law qualified privilege, malice, and honest opinion were not available to the defendant. The plaintiff was not entitled to any damages other than nominal damages, as there was no demonstrable proof of loss in income following the publication of the defamatory statements. The court ordered that the defendant pay the plaintiff $1,100 in nominal damages.

The court also made orders regarding the costs of the proceeding, the form of the judgment, and the entry of the judgment.