Taringa 24 Hour Medical Centre P/L and Anor v Brisbane TV Limited

The plaintiffs, Taringa 24 Hour Medical Centre P/L and Atholl Jonothan Miller, have brought a defamation action against Brisbane TV Limited. The plaintiffs claim that the defendant broadcast defamatory material concerning them on numerous occasions prior to and on 20 March 1997. The defamatory material included a promotion for the “Today Tonight” programme and a story about how patients go from doctor to doctor collecting dangerous drugs. The plaintiffs seek damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, against the defendant. The defendant has pleaded the defences of qualified privilege. In response, the plaintiffs allege that the defendant made the broadcast with an absence of good faith.

The legal issues the court was required to decide were whether the plaintiffs should be granted leave to deliver interrogatories to the defendant and if so, which interrogatories the defendant should be required to answer. The court considered the plaintiffs' submissions that they needed to obtain relevant admissions concerning the defendant's pre-broadcast conduct to properly prepare their case and to establish the steps taken by the defendant to verify the truth of assertions contained in the broadcast. The court also considered the defendant's objections to answering certain interrogatories, including that some interrogatories were ambiguous, embarrassing, and irrelevant.

The court found that the plaintiffs were entitled to answers to certain interrogatories to properly prepare their case and to establish the defendant's state of mind and the steps taken to verify the truth of assertions contained in the broadcast. The court rejected the defendant's objections to answering certain interrogatories, finding that the interrogatories were not ambiguous, embarrassing, or irrelevant. The court also found that some interrogatories were relevant to the issue of aggravated and exemplary damages claimed by the plaintiffs.

The final orders of the court were that the defendant should answer interrogatories numbered 2(a)-(e) both inclusive 2(j) 3(a) 3(f) 3(g) 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14(b)(i) 14(c)(i) and 14(d) excluding from 14(d) the words “and/or by the Seven Network”. The defendant was also ordered to file and serve its affidavit sworn in answer to such interrogatories within 14 days from the date of the judgment. The defendant was further ordered to pay the plaintiffs' costs of and incidental to this application to be taxed.