New Defamation Act “overwhelmingly favourable” to defendants, but more contentious is the future of private lives. Thank heavens there’ll still be plenty of “interlocutory disturbances” ... more
Year: 2006
Mamdouh Habib v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No.2)
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib’s second defamation action against The Daily Telegraph fails before a s.7A jury. But not before Habib’s barrister Clive Evatt and Guy Reynolds, for Nationwide News, cross swords ... more
Lady Colin Campbell v Lily Safra
Society writer and Monaco socialite battle it out in Britain’s High Court over roman a clef and two newspaper articles. Lily Safra (pic) succeeds in having Lady Colin Campbell’s actions for libel and inducement to breach of contract dismissed ... more
Stephen Archer v Newcastle Newspapers Pty Ltd
Verdict for Newcastle Herald in Stephen Archer case following Judge Gibson’s finding that she was not biased against serial tax offender and former bankrupt barrister ... more
Kyle Sandilands v Seven Network Ltd
Australian Idol judge and 2DayFM DJ Kyle Sandilands gets four imputations up in a s.7A hearing. A Today Tonight promo and program are to blame ... more
R v The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd
Justice Victorian-style. Bernard Bongiorno’s contempt is David Harper’s “informed and balanced” editorial. Contempt charge against Sunday Herald Sun dismissed ... more
Falun Dafa Association of NSW v Chinese Media Group & Kam Chung Chan
Falun Gong members temporarily halt their demonstrations outside the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Falun Dafa Association of NSW’s defamation case goes nowhere. A failure of identification ... more
Frawley v State of New South Wales
Schoolteacher wins right to sue the State of NSW over defamatory material published on the internet, which the school principal failed to remove ... more
Arthur Dent v Macquarie Radio Network Pty Ltd
Justice Virginia Bell awards $65,000 to “malingering” skydiver Arthur Dent, an “unusual individual” defamed by 2UE’s Ray Hadley. Macquarie Radio’s plethora of defences went nowhere … more
Kylie McCabe v Cobbittee Publications Pty Ltd
Suburban infidelities and a belligerent grandmother featured in a racy s.7A trial that reveals current community values. It’s defamatory to say a plaintiff had consensual sex with a close friend’s husband, but to say she lied about it is not ... more
Mamdouh Habib v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
Spigelman CJ clears the air on the transitional provisions of the new Defamation Act. Proceedings brought before January 1, 2006 will get a s.7A trial ... more
Thuyen Nguyen v Nguyen & Vu Publishers Pty Ltd & ors
Court 12B in the NSW Supreme Court was the scene of another Vietnam war, this time between anti-communist activist Thuyen Nguyen and the Vietnamese publishers who called him a “Cheating Bachelor”. Tears flow in second-leg defamation trial ... more