National Roads and Motorists' Association Ltd v Geeson and 3 Ors

The National Roads and Motorists' Association Ltd sought an interlocutory injunction against three directors and the Sydney Morning Herald to prevent the disclosure of information about a board meeting held on 17 September 2001. The NRMA argued that the directors had a reasonable apprehension of publication by the Sydney Morning Herald and sought to restrain the communication of the information and its publication. The legal issues before the court were whether the NRMA had a reasonable apprehension of publication and if an interlocutory injunction should be granted to prevent the communication and publication of the information. The court examined the evidence and concluded that while there was some source of information for the Sydney Morning Herald, it was not shown to be any of the director defendants. The court found that the refusal of one director to give an undertaking not to communicate the events was not evidence of a threat to communicate the information. Additionally, the court considered the Directors' Code of Conduct, which entitled the directors to communicate information on deciding to do so based on stated principles. The court found that there was no reasonable apprehension of communication of information about other subjects or of publication by the Sydney Morning Herald. Consequently, the court declined to make an injunction that would prevent the director from taking a course permitted by the Code of Conduct. The interlocutory injunction was refused.