State of New South Wales v Deren

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales heard an appeal concerning the contextual imputation defence in defamation proceedings. The appeal was brought by the State of New South Wales against a judgment in favour of Mr Deren, and also against a judgment in favour of Mrs Deren.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the defence of contextual imputation, as provided by section 28 of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW), had been correctly applied by the trial judge. This defence allows a defendant to argue that the defamatory meaning of a statement was substantially the same as the meaning of other words published by the defendant which were not defamatory. The court was required to determine if the meanings imputed to the statements made by the State were substantially the same as the meanings of other, non-defamatory statements published by the State.

By majority, the court found that the trial judge had erred in their application of section 28 of the Defamation Act in relation to Mr Deren's claim. The majority reasoned that the meanings attributed to the statements were not substantially the same as the meanings of the other words published, and therefore the defence of contextual imputation should not have succeeded. However, in relation to Mrs Deren's claim, the majority held that the trial judge's findings were correct and the defence was properly applied.

Consequently, the appeal against the judgment for Mr Deren was allowed, and a new trial was ordered in respect of his claim. The appeal against the judgment for Mrs Deren was dismissed.