Kiefel
CJ
Bell
J
Keane
J
Nettle
J
Gordon
J
7.
23
In Victoria, the test for summary judgment is prescribed by s 62 of the
Civil Procedure Act: whether the plaintiff's claim has "no real prospect of
success". Consistently with Spencer, the view taken in Victoria is that the power
to dismiss an action summarily is not lightly to be exercised but that, like the test
applicable to s 31A of the Federal Court of Australia Act, the "no real prospect
of success" test is to some degree more liberal than Dey and General Steel. It
permits of the possibility of cases in which, although the plaintiff's case is not
"hopeless" or "bound to fail", it does not have a real prospect of succeeding12.
The proceeding at first instance
24
Before McDonald J, Google put its application for summary dismissal on
three bases: (i) that it did not publish the images matter or the web matter;
(ii) that the matters in issue were not defamatory of Mr Trkulja; and (iii) that
Google was entitled to immunity from suit13.
25
Based on a careful consideration of the present state of authority,
including the decisions of Beach J in Trkulja v Google (No 5)14 (against which
there was no appeal), and of Blue J in Duffy v Google Inc15, McDonald J
concluded that it was strongly arguable that Google's intentional participation in
the communication of the allegedly defamatory search results relating to
Mr Trkulja to users of the Google search engine supported a finding that Google
published the allegedly defamatory results16.
26
McDonald J also rejected Google's contention that a Google search engine
user or a person looking over his or her shoulder would not think less of a person
such as Mr Trkulja because his photograph is included in the search results or
because his photograph or references to his name appear in "snippets" and
12
Lysaght Building Solutions Pty Ltd (t/as Highline Commercial Construction) v
Blanalko Pty Ltd (2013) 42 VR 27 at 39 [29] per Warren CJ and Nettle JA
(Neave JA agreeing at 40 [36]); Bodycorp Repairers Pty Ltd v Holding Redlich
[2018] VSCA 17 at [127]-[129].
13
Trkulja v Google Inc [2015] VSC 635 at [2].
14
[2012] VSC 533.
15
(2015) 125 SASR 437.
16
Trkulja v Google Inc [2015] VSC 635 at [67].
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