Jamieson v Beattie

[2005] QDC 405

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Jamieson v Beattie [2005] QDC 405

PARTIES:

WILLIAM ROBINSON JAMIESON

Plaintiff

v

PETER BEATTIE

Defendant 

FILE NO:

1/2004

PROCEEDING:

Claim

ORIGINATING COURT:

Southport

DELIVERED ON:

9 December 2005

DELIVERED AT:

Southport

HEARING DATE:

4 & 5 August 2005

JUDGE:

Dearden DCJ

ORDER:

Judgment for the plaintiff against the defendant in the sum of $37,821.37.

CATCHWORDS:

DEFAMATION – Defamatory imputations – Malice – Defence of qualified protection – General damages – Aggravated damages – Exemplary damages – Interest

Defamation Act (Qld) 1889, s 16; s 17

Cases cited :
Commonwealth v Murray [1988] Aust Torts Reports 68,038
Farquhar v Bottom [1980] 2 NSWLR 380
Freier v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd
John Fairfax & Sons Ltd v Kelly (1987) 8 NSWLR 131
Kilpatrick v Van Staveren & Chubb Security Australia Pty Ltd [2002] QDC 293
Shean v Chan [2000] QDC 319
Thompson v Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd (1998) 133 ACTR 1
Uren v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1966) 117 CLR 118
Vargold Pty Ltd v Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1981] 1 NSWLR 9

COUNSEL:

P W Hackett for the plaintiff

M Martin for the defendant 

SOLICITORS:

Baker Johnson Lawyers for the plaintiff
Crowther Lawyers for the defendant    

INTRODUCTION

1. The plaintiff, William Jamieson, a semi-retired accountant, asserts that he was defamed in three letters sent at different times between 23 July 2002 and             12 December 2003 to unit owners in the St Tropez North unit complex in Surfers Paradise by the defendant, a real estate agent and St Tropez North body corporate committee member.  The correspondence asserted by the plaintiff to be defamatory was circulated in the context of “electioneering” by the defendant in respect of elections for positions on the St Tropez North body corporate committee.

THE EVIDENCE

1. The plaintiff was, at trial, a 55-year-old man.  He was born in Scotland and raised in an orphanage there until he was 15, when he came to Australia.  He subsequently grew up in country New South Wales.  In the late 1960s he joined the Australian Defence Force where he worked as an infantry soldier and subsequently an instructor, and after retirement, remained a member of the Army Reserve.  When he left the army, he went to work for W A Flick & Company (in pest control) and, having received accountancy training in the army, he undertook accountancy duties with W A Flick & Company.  After two years working for     W A Flick & Company, he moved into business for himself in various areas including pest control, heavy transport and a large cleaning business.  The plaintiff came to Queensland, semi-retired, as a single parent with two small children around 1995.  The plaintiff was invited to work for Goodwin Poole, solicitor, undertaking bookkeeping and accounts work.  The plaintiff undertook the budgeting program for the DET program for the long-term unemployed.  In 1998 the plaintiff purchased a unit at St Tropez South where he opened an insolvency practice with a qualified accountant, Ms Glenis Mapp[1].

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