Buckley v The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Ltd (No 2)

In Buckley v The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Ltd (No 2), the defendant newspaper publisher was sued by the plaintiff, a former public official, for defamation. The plaintiff had previously been awarded damages for an article published by the defendant that was found to be defamatory. The present proceeding arose from a subsequent article published by the defendant, which the plaintiff also claimed was defamatory. The case was heard by the Supreme Court of Victoria, which was required to determine whether the present defamation proceeding was in respect of the same or a like matter as the previous proceeding between the parties.

The court was required to decide whether the present defamation proceeding was in respect of the same or a like matter as the previous proceeding between the parties. The court had to consider the relevant statutory provision, s 23 of the Defamation Act 2005 (Vic), which provides that where proceedings in respect of the same or a like matter have already been instituted, the court may stay or dismiss the later proceeding. The court had to determine whether the two articles were so closely related that they constituted the same or a like matter for the purposes of s 23.

The court held that the two articles were not in respect of the same or a like matter. The court found that the first article concerned the plaintiff's conduct in relation to a particular matter, while the second article concerned a different matter altogether. The court held that the two articles were not so closely related as to constitute the same or a like matter for the purposes of s 23. The court found that the plaintiff was therefore entitled to bring the present proceeding.

The court ordered that the defendant's application to stay the present proceeding be dismissed. The court held that the plaintiff was entitled to proceed with the present defamation proceeding. The court did not make any orders as to costs.