Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v King

Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought leave to appeal a decision of the primary judge concerning imputations of fact arising from certain publications. The respondent, Mr King, alleged that these publications were defamatory. The dispute centred on whether the primary judge had correctly identified and assessed the contextual imputations of fact that were conveyed by the publications.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the primary judge erred in holding that certain contextual imputations were impermissibly imprecise. This involved considering the application of the principles established in *Drummoyne Municipal Council v Australian Broadcasting Corporation* (1990) 21 NSWLR 135, specifically at page 137, concerning the identification and assessment of contextual imputations in defamation proceedings.

The Court of Appeal found that the primary judge had not erred in their assessment of the contextual imputations. The reasoning applied was that the primary judge had correctly applied the principles from *Drummoyne*, which require that contextual imputations be sufficiently precise to be capable of being understood by ordinary reasonable readers. The court concluded that the primary judge's findings on this point were sound.

The application for leave to appeal was dismissed. The parties were ordered to file and serve submissions concerning the costs of a draft notice of contention filed by the respondent, with subsequent orders for costs to be made subject to those submissions. Generally, the applicants were ordered to pay the respondent's costs of the application for leave to appeal, excluding the costs of the draft notice of contention, for which the respondent was ordered to pay the applicants' costs.