Currabubula Holdings & Paola Holdings v State Bank of NSW

Currabubula Holdings and Paola Holdings initiated legal action against the State Bank of New South Wales, addressing allegations of defamation stemming from the bank's practice of annotating bank statements with the term 'in liq'. The plaintiffs contended that these notations implied insolvency and the appointment of liquidators, thereby damaging their reputations and trading prospects. The central legal issues revolved around the extent of damages recoverable by the plaintiffs, the appropriate measure of interest for any awarded damages, and the allocation of costs between the parties.

The court meticulously examined the principles governing defamation in the context of business entities, particularly when a group of companies is involved. It affirmed that a trading company could recover damages for injury to its reputation without demonstrating direct financial loss, provided that the defamation affected its trade or goodwill. However, the court ruled that specific damages related to trade and goodwill required concrete proof of such harm. The court also noted the plaintiffs' failure to sue regarding broader imputations about the group's insolvency, limiting their recovery to the specific instances they did bring to court. Regarding interest, the court determined that compound interest was not appropriate and that the measure of interest should be based on factual evidence. Lastly, the court assessed the costs, concluding that the unsuccessful plaintiff should not bear the unsuccessful party's costs in relation to the claims that were unsuccessful.

The final orders of the court included an assessment of damages for the specific defamation claims proven, a determination of the appropriate interest to be awarded based on factual evidence, and a ruling on the costs, with the unsuccessful plaintiff bearing a portion of the costs related to its unsuccessful claims.