Morgan v John Fairfax & Sons Limited

In this matter before the High Court of Australia, the applicant, John Fairfax & Sons Limited, sought special leave to appeal. The dispute concerned the terms of an order for a new trial made by the Court of Appeal.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether special leave to appeal should be granted to allow the applicant to argue that the order for a new trial should have been qualified. Specifically, the applicant wished to contend that the new trial order should have preserved the benefit of the jury's verdict on issues other than qualified privilege, or at least some of those issues.

The High Court indicated that, generally, the decision of the Court of Appeal on the matters the applicant wished to agitate was not attended by sufficient doubt to warrant special leave. However, the Court acknowledged the applicant's desire to argue for a restricted new trial order, a point not previously considered by the Court of Appeal. Given that the Court of Appeal's order had been formally taken out, making it impractical to seek a variation by notice of motion, the High Court offered a consent order. This order would grant special leave to appeal and set aside the Court of Appeal's order to the extent necessary to allow the applicant to present their argument for a restricted new trial to the Court of Appeal. The respondent indicated a preference for this course of action.