Lower Court Judgment
01/06/2020 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Appeal) (Basten & Meagher JJA, Simpson AJA)
Catchwords
Defamation – Publication – Where applicants created and operated public Facebook pages on which Facebook users can view and comment on items posted – Where Facebook users posted comments on applicants’ Facebook posts – Where respondent commenced defamation proceedings against applicants – Where primary judge determined separate question – Where NSW Court of Appeal dismissed appeal from determination – Whether intention to communicate defamatory material is necessary for person to be “publisher” – Whether operators of Facebook pages “publish” third-party comments posted on page prior to being aware of comments.
08/12/2020 Hearing (SLA, Canberra)
21/12/2020 Notices of appeal
17/02/2021 Written submissions (Appellants - joint)
17/02/2021 Chronology (Appellants - joint)
17/03/2021 Written submissions (Respondent - joint)
07/04/2021 Reply
18/05/2021 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
18/05/2021 Outline of oral argument (Appellants - joint)
18/05/2021 Outline of oral argument (Respondent - joint)
08/09/2021 Judgment (Judgment summary)