“Holocaust philosopher” loses appeal over the permanent staying of his defamation action against The Australian and former Greens leader Christine Milne … NSW Court of Appeal also finds he was seeking to use the court to espouse anti-Semitic views, contrary to Federal Court orders ... more
Year: 2016
Open justice – a closed case in Australia?
The Australian media is being persistently stymied in its attempts to gain access to court exhibits, despite an avowed commitment to open justice … Kathryn Wilson looks at the law and the practice here, and in the UK, where a media protocol has been in place for over a decade … more
Robert Balzola v Gary Burns
Sydney solicitor fails to prosecute contempt charges against gay activist over an offensive letter sent to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal registrar … Its limited publication did not objectively satisfy the test ... more
State of the Union: Issues of defamation and privacy law in US politics
Libel and privacy issues have surfaced in the lead up to the US presidential election, with Donald Trump threatening to sue almost everyone and emails being hacked … Hannah Ryan examines the current state of play in the law, and politics ... more
Ali Mosslmani by his tutor Karout v DailyMail.com Australia Pty Ltd, Nationwide News Pty Ltd & Australian Radio Network Pty Ltd
Plenty of action down at the NSW District Court as Judge Judith Gibson strikes out most of the “over-pleaded” imputations brought by a teenager with an extreme “mullet” ... Her Honour also finds that the Reverend Fred Nile “attempted to evade the service of a subpoena” by lawyers for The Canberra Times ... more
Practice Notes – Clarissa Amato
She has worked in the world’s libel capital, London, and in Sydney, acting for a range of media clients and plaintiffs … Now Sydney-based, barrister Clarissa Amato also has some interesting views on privacy, defamation, juries, injunctions, imputations and more ... more
“Off the record” briefing was a breach of confidence
When is an “off the record” briefing with journalists a breach of confidence? When it concerns personal details collected by the tax department, according to a recent UK Supreme Court judgment …This case note and comment by Dan Tench … more
Rodney Culleton v Bradley Kershaw & 17 Ors
No joy for One Nation senator Rod Culleton in progressing his defamation action against 18 defendants … WA Supreme Court refuses him leave to amend and finds he’s out of time in respect of multiple Facebook posts … Carmel Galati reports ... more
Courting trouble
Court reporting attracts defamation actions in three jurisdictions – NSW, QLD and WA … Billionaire Chinese businessman sues Fairfax Media over bribery allegations … Rebel Wilson sues Bauer Media over liar allegations … NSW government noise specialist sues Alan Jones over corruption allegations … Channel Seven settles over ratbag (and other) allegations ... more
Brett Smith v Ken Lucht
Ipswich solicitor who was likened to The Castle’s bumbling lawyer “Dennis Denuto” loses appeal over the dismissal of his defamation action … The defence of triviality holds … QLD Court of Appeal finds “harm” in section 33 applies only to reputation, not to hurt feelings ... more
Tony Zoef v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
Case of mistaken identity ends in damages of $150,000 for an elderly suburban tailor accused of being a gunrunner and arms dealer … NSW Court of Appeal finds The Daily Telegraph’s offer of amends was unreasonable in the circumstances ... more
Oliver Douglas v Terence McLernon & Ors
Three Perth businessmen targeted by a blogger sued him over a plethora of publications on various websites … more