Court awards $1m in damages after Sydney agent defamed rivals

Kedchada Chompuchan, also known as “Grace”, and Peejay Capati, who operated Paragon Realty Group in Rouse Hill through Homeland Realty Pty Ltd, sued Srimongkol after she defamed their characters on social media.

Both plaintiffs said the defamation had resulted in a 70 per cent drop in business and loss of income, as their predominantly Thai community relied on reputation and word-of-mouth referrals to buy or sell properties.

The arrangement

According to the court papers, Srimongkol, a real estate agent, was operating a Facebook page called “Mama in Sydney”.

Through her social media page, Srimongkol conducted professional dealings.

Around 2021, Paragon Realty entered into an arrangement with Srimongkol, where she promoted the agency’s business in exchange for payment of referral fees.

According to Capati, the fees were payable from commissions upon the settlement of property sales, but only after they were finalised.

By 2022, Capati learned that Srimongkol had become unhappy with the arrangement, and was complaining to his business associates and customers about delays in receiving her referral fees.

She had previously demanded to receive payment prior to agreed settlement dates, despite the fact that she wasn’t entitled to them yet.

From 2023, Srimongkol started threatening Paragon Realty through WhatsApp messages, saying that she might air her criticisms publicly.

On 8 April 2024, she published a post on her Facebook page, referring to an “unethical agent” who was “cheating the clients”.

She did not mention the agent by name, but, in response to a comment posted by a user, indicated that they were Thai.

At a hearing last year, Chompuchan and Capati’s counsel said Srimongkol was somewhat of a competitor in the industry, particularly among members of the Thai community.

The court heard that members of the Thai community relied on reputation and word-of-mouth referrals to generate business.

During the course of June and July 2024, Capati was alerted by customers to a series of posts published on Srimongkol’s Facebook page.

The posts included the messaging that Chompuchan acted dishonestly by withholding payments from her, and took advantage of her by refusing to pay her for the work that she completed.

Additionally, they suggested that both of the agents dishonestly deceived or fooled customers into buying houses, that they caused harm to Thai people, and that the agency was an unscrupulous company.

Proceedings

During a hearing last week, Judge Alister Abadee accepted Chompuchan and Srimongkol’s submissions that the imputations were serious, given they went to the core of their reputations as agents.

The business was also affected, with Chompuchan saying that in 2024, there was a 70 per cent drop-off in business from members of the Thai community, only closing 30 deals that year, and 20 in 2025.

Since 2024, the agents reported receiving significantly fewer enquiries from members of that community.

“I agree with the plaintiffs that the imputations were especially grave for a professional, as they went to their honesty and integrity in their business dealings,” Abadee said.

“Further, the publications were concentrated within a particular market segment, being the Thai community, where the grapevine effect was also likely to be significant.”

He found the extent of publication was broad, as Srimongkol’s page had approximately 15,000 followers, with a strong possibility of further dissemination.

As a result of the findings, Abadee awarded a total of $100,000 in damages to Chompuchan, $80,000 to Capati and $850,000 to the agency for economic loss.

He also said he would grant a permanent injunction restraining Srimongkol from publishing anything conveying that the agents were untrustworthy, acted unlawfully, cheated customers, or fooled the Thai community.