Li v Liao

In the case of Li v Liao, the plaintiff, Mr Li, brought an action against the defendant, Mr Liao, for defamation, injurious falsehood, and passing off. The dispute primarily arose from a series of recorded conversations between Mr Liao and a third party, which Mr Li claimed contained defamatory and false statements about his business. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, where the defendant moved to strike out parts of the plaintiff’s Statement of Claim.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the pleaded imputations in the Statement of Claim were capable of being defamatory, whether they were substantially similar to those in the Concerns Notice, and whether the plaintiff had adequately pleaded and particularised the elements of injurious falsehood. Additionally, the court had to determine the admissibility of the recorded conversations under the relevant statutory frameworks.

The court found that the pleaded imputations were indeed capable of being defamatory and were substantially similar to those raised in the Concerns Notice. It further determined that the imputations were capable of arising from the recorded conversations and thus were not impermissibly particularised. The court held that the plaintiff had sufficiently pleaded the elements of injurious falsehood, noting that the statements were false and made about the plaintiff's business. The court allowed the action to proceed but struck out certain parts of the Statement of Claim that were deemed unnecessary or irrelevant to the pleaded causes of action.

The court's final orders included the allowance of the action to proceed with the remaining parts of the Statement of Claim and the striking out of certain portions that did not meet the pleading requirements.