Gim v Byeon

[2017] NSWDC 136

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	Gim v Byeon [2017] NSWDC 136
Hearing dates:	30 and 31 March 2017; 26 April 2017;1 June 2017
Date of orders:	08 June 2017
Decision date:	08 June 2017
Jurisdiction:	Civil
Before:	Gibson DCJ
Decision:	(1) Judgment for the defendant. (2) Costs reserved with liberty to apply. (3) Exhibits retained until further order.
Catchwords:	TORT – defamation – slander – journalist has conversation with the defendant (a restaurant proprietor) after giving his lunch order and while waiting for his meal to arrive – whether the defendant published the words of and concerning the plaintiff as attributed to him in the matter complained of – whether the defendant was liable for republication of the matter complained of at a lunch the journalist had with friends at another restaurant five days later – claims for publication and republication fail – judgment for defendant
Legislation Cited:	Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), ss 34 and 40
Cases Cited:	Allen v Lloyd-Jones (No 6) [2014] NSWDC 40 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298 Jones v Sutton (2004) 61 NSWLR 614 Jones v Sutton (No 2) [2005] NSWCA 203 Luke v Richardson [2014] WADC 27 McGlen-McLeod v Galloway [2012] NSWCA 368 Milne v Ell [2017] NSWSC 555 Richards v State of New South Wales [2004] VSC 198 Ritson v Burns [2014] NSWSC 272 Sims v Wran [1984] 1 NSWLR 317 Speight v Gosnay (1891) 60 LJQB 231 Slipper v British Broadcasting Corporation [1991] 1 QB 283 Timms v Clift [1998] 2 Qd R 100 Thornton v Telegraph Media Group Ltd [2011] EWHC 1884 (QB) Umeyor v Ibe [2016] EWHC 862
Texts Cited:	R. Parkes QC, A. Mullis, G. Busuttil, A. Speker & A. Scot, Gatley on Libel and Slander (Sweet & Maxwell, United Kingdom, 12th ed.)
Category:	Principal judgment
Parties:	Plaintiff: Ick Hee Gim Defendant: Jong Yoon Byeon
Representation:	Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr M Rollinson Defendant: Mr J R Young   Solicitors: Plaintiff: Teddington Legal Defendant: Kim & Associates
File Number(s):	2015/241148
Publication restriction:	None

Judgment

Introduction

1. The plaintiff commenced proceedings for defamation for words allegedly spoken by the defendant in the Korean language with a Korean journalist, Mr Sang Jin Kwoun, on Wednesday 28 January 2015 and for Mr Kwoun’s republication of those words to three friends at a lunch at another restaurant on 4 February 2015.

2. The background facts, as reported in the Korean media, were as follows. The plaintiff, a businessman, managed a Korean/Australian baseball team and travelled with them to China for a match several times in 2014. He arranged for a baseball team from Guangzhou to come to Australia for a match in late December 2014, but remained in Australia himself. It is not in dispute that, as the news reports set out below confirm, members of that baseball team were detained at Guangzhou Airport on 30 December 2014 after a significant quantity of illicit drugs was found in some team members’ luggage. This was widely reported in the overseas media and by SBS but…