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Defamation Act 1992

Procedure

47: Notice of multiple actions

You could also call this:

"Telling defendants about other similar court cases"

Illustration for Defamation Act 1992

You are taking someone to court for defamation, and you have started more than one case about the same issue. You must tell each defendant about the other cases as soon as you can. This is so they can ask the court to combine the cases under section 48. If you do not tell them, they can ask the court to stop or dismiss the case. You need to understand what "publication" means in this context. It has the same meaning as in section 46. This is important to know when you are dealing with defamation cases. If you are a defendant and the person taking you to court does not tell you about the other cases, you can ask the court to stop or dismiss the case. The court can then decide what to do with the case.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM281265.

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46: Proceedings in respect of publication in different media of same matter, or

"One court case at a time for the same false story in different media"

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48: Consolidation of actions on application of defendants, or

"Combining Similar Court Cases About Defamation"

Part 4Procedure

47Notice of multiple actions

  1. Where 2 or more proceedings for defamation have been commenced by the same person in respect of the publication of the same or substantially the same matter, the plaintiff shall as soon as practicable give to every defendant in each of the proceedings such notice of the existence of the other proceedings as is reasonably sufficient to enable each defendant to apply for the consolidation of the proceedings under section 48.

  2. Where the plaintiff fails to give the notice required by subsection (1) to any defendant, that defendant may apply to the court to dismiss or stay the proceedings, and the court may dismiss or stay the proceedings accordingly.

  3. In this section publication has the same meaning as in section 46.

Compare
  • 1954 No 46 s 10