"Estoppel
The First Defendant says the Plaintiff ought not to be allowed to commence or continue these proceedings because on 9 November 2007 the Plaintiff brought proceedings in the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (Tenancy Division) (RT07/14201) in which, among other things, she was awarded unliquid (sic) damages for hurt, upset and injury to reputation over the newspaper article complained of by the Plaintiff in this action. At the CTTT the Plaintiff claimed that the First Defendant breached her rights by causing the newspaper article to be published. The Plaintiff was awarded damages for her distress and public embarrassment for, among other things, the First Defendant being pictured in the local paper on the steps of the premises and making comments about the "tenants from hell". The Plaintiff gave evidence which was accepted by the Tribunal that she suffered considerable distress and that as a result of the First Defendant's actions (which included the causing of the newspaper article to be published and the statements made therein) the Plaintiff suffered humiliation and abuse in the local community such that she had to move away.
Having claimed damages over the conduct of the First Defendant including her alleged conduct of publishing the article complained of, posing for the photograph and making the statements contained therein and having recovered damages for hurt, upset, embarrassment and loss of reputation the Plaintiff is estopped from bringing or continuing this claim which relates to the same subject matter and to the same damage as the proceedings brought before the CTTT."
15 Because there is said to be a res judicata and/or an issue estoppel arising from the Tribunal proceedings it is important to identify the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. Section 21 of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001 provides:
"General statement of jurisdiction
(1) The Tribunal has such jurisdiction to decide matters, and such powers to make orders and otherwise exercise any function in connection with any such decisions, as is conferred on it by this or any other Act.
…"
16 Further, s 5(2) provides:
"The Tribunal has and may exercise such functions as are conferred or imposed on it by or under any Act."
17 A note in the authorised reprint of the Act lists the Acts which confer jurisdiction on the Tribunal amongst which is the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 but amongst which the Defamation Act 2005 does not appear. Indeed, nothing in the Defamation Act 2005 makes any reference to the Tribunal.
18 Section 16 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 deals with applications relating to a breach of a residential tenancy agreement. Sub-section (2) relevantly provides:
"(2) The Tribunal may, on application by a person under this section, make one or more of the following orders:
…
(d) an order as to compensation, including (without limiting the Tribunal's power to make such an order):
(i) compensation for loss of rent, and
(ii) compensation where a landlord withholds or refuses consent to the removal of a tenant's fixture, and
(iii) compensation for any other breach of the residential tenancy agreement,
…"
19 The compensation referred to in s 16(2)(d)(iii) includes an award of damages for disappointment and distress proceeding from physical inconvenience caused by a breach of a residential tenancy agreement or from a breach of the contractual provisions to provide quiet enjoyment: Residential Tenancies Tribunal of New South Wales v Offe (Supreme Court of NSW, Abadee J, 1 July 1997, unreported) at p. 4; Strahan v The Residential Tenancies Tribunal (Supreme Court of NSW, Dowd J, 12 September 1998, unreported) at p. 6.
20 Defamation is an injury to a person's reputation and the purpose of general damages is to compensate the claimant for the effects of the defamatory statement. General damages serve three functions: to act as a consolation to the claimant for the distress he or she suffers from the publication of the statement; to repair the harm to his or her reputation; and as a vindication of his or her reputation: Patrick Milmo et al, Gatley on Libel and Slander, 11th ed (2008) Sweet & Maxwell at 9.2.
21 In Uren v John Fairfax and Sons Pty Ltd (1966) 117 CLR 118 (in a passage approved by the House of Lords in Broome v Cassell and Co Ltd [1972] AC 1027 at p. 1071) at p. 150 per Windeyer J:
"It seems to me that, properly speaking, a man defamed does not get compensation for his damaged reputation. He gets damages because he was injured in his reputation, that is simply because he was publicly defamed. For this reason, compensation by damages operates in two ways - as a vindication of the Plaintiff to the public, and as a consolation to him for the wrong done."
22 In McCarey v Associated Newspapers (No. 2) [1965] 2 QB 86 at p. 104-105 per Pearson LJ:
"Compensatory damages … may include not only actual pecuniary loss and anticipated pecuniary loss or any social disadvantages which result, or may be thought likely to result, from the wrong which has been done. They may also include the natural injury to his feelings - the natural grief and distress which he may have felt having been spoken of in defamatory terms, …"
Res judicata
23 The rule as to res judicata can be stated by saying that, where an action has been brought and judgment has been entered in that action, no other proceedings can thereafter be maintained on the same cause of action: Jackson v Goldsmith (1950) 81 CLR 446 at p. 466 per Fullager J. Although there is a difficulty in speaking of a cause of action in the Tribunal it is clear that the doctrine of res judicata applies to a judicial decision of a tribunal upon any matter over which it has jurisdiction to give a final judicial decision: Administration of Papua and New Guinea v Daera Guba (1973) 130 CLR 353 at p. 453.
24 The Court of Appeal held in Cachia v Isaacs (1985) 3 NSWLR 366 that the predecessor of the present Tribunal was sufficiently invested with powers to define issues and solemnly determine them as between the parties to it that enabled an issue estoppel to arise in relation to such a determination. Certain comments of Hope JA at p. 382 and agreed by Kirby P at p. 368 suggest that the powers would be sufficient in appropriate circumstances to give rise to a res judicata also. In my opinion, nothing in the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001, particularly in the light of the powers invested in it under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987, would mean otherwise than that Cachia v Isaacs governs the position of the present Tribunal.
25 The question to be determined is whether the cause of action in the later proceedings is the same as in the former proceedings. In this regard, Fullager J said in Jackson at p. 467:
"In the first place, if A sues B to judgment and in subsequent proceedings between them a plea of res judicata is raised, the primary question will be whether the cause of action in the later proceedings is the same as that which was litigated in the former proceedings. This was the question which arose in the well-known case of Brunsden v Humphrey (1884) 14 QBD 141. It was held there that the causes of action were not the same. The injuria was the same but the damnum was different, and since damage was 'of the gist' of the particular action, the causes of action were not the same. The plea therefore failed."
26 To the extent that one can characterise the application to the Tribunal as a cause of action for the purpose of determining whether a res judicata exists from the Tribunal's decision, it seems clear that the claim was one for damages for breach of the residential tenancy agreement by the landlord. In that regard, the heading on the document of Orders and Reasons for Decision of the Tribunal dated 19 December 2007 includes the following:
" APPLICATION:
The tenant seeks orders that the landlord pay the tenant compensation for economic and non-economic loss arising from the landlord's breach of the residential tenancy agreement."
27 In the section headed "Reasons for Decision" the following appears:
"APPLICATION:
On 13 March 2007, the tenant, Ms Sharlene Free lodged an application in the Tribunal against the landlords: Mrs Debe Thomas, Mr Ron Thomas and Ms Kysha Thomas. This application sought various orders, including an order for the tenant to be able to access the premises to clean the house and for the tenant's belongings to be returned to her.