NSW District Court dismisses defamation claim against Westpac employee over a letter sent to the Financial Ombudsman Service ... The action was an abuse of process and motivated by an improper purpose ... Nicholas Bonyhady reports ... more
Year: 2017
Mouhammad Tabbaa and Pamela Tabbaa v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd
Credibility at the centre of another big defamation trial, this one brought by an estranged husband and wife over a 60 Minutes broadcast, a news report and a feedback segment ... Nine pleads truth and honest opinion for claims the plaintiffs abducted their teenage daughter, beat her and forced her to live in Syria for five years ... more
Marion Collier v Country Women’s Association of NSW
Defamation battle involving an expelled member of the Country Women’s Association (NSW) ends in resounding victory for the defendant … Casebook example of qualified privilege … It’s also true that the plaintiff bullied, harassed, insulted and defamed other members ... more
Social media and jury trials
The impact of social media on criminal trials is the basis for the UK attorney general’s call for “urgent reform”, but can (and should) the law be curtailing such freedom of expression? ... Leeds University media law academic Dr Paul Wragg investigates ... more
Mar Meelis Zaai v Sargon Eshow
Self-represented defendant ordered to pay substantial damages over a series of defamatory Facebook posts attacking the archbishop of his church … NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum also orders a permanent injunction … more
Bryan Stokes v Stephen Ragless
South Australian clay target shooter falsely accused of being a gangster and drug runner (among other things) gets damages of $90,000 for 41 online defamatory publications and 15 emails by “keyboard warrior” keen “to exact revenge” … The court also grants a permanent injunction … more
Online publication claims: Norwich Pharmacal orders and jurisdictional issues
Norwich Pharmacal orders can be employed against ISPs to identify anonymous internet “wrong-doers”, but a recent UK decision has highlighted some jurisdictional issues… Kirsten Sjovall examines the implications in this edited extract from a new book Online Publication Claims: A Practical Guide ... more
To be continued …
Actions continue to mount in the Federal Court … End of year settlement fever strikes Fairfax, Nationwide News, The Daily Mail Australia and Channel Seven … Appeals, actions, exits and entrances ... more
Government press release identifying “extremist hate speaker” was “opinion”
What constitutes fact, as opposed to opinion, is put to the test in a recent UK decision involving a government press release featuring the words “extremist hate speaker”... This case note and comment by trainee barrister Natasha Holcroft-Emmess ... more
Denis Wagner & Ors v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd & Ors
Wagner brothers succeed in having three struck-out imputations reinstated by the QLD Court of Appeal … Nine Network and journalist Nick Cater will now have to defend some serious allegations, including that the plaintiffs caused the deaths of 12 people ... more
Lei Vaa v Tony Barakat
Woman caught stealing on shop CCTV fails to prove publication of a poster featuring her photo and the caption “THIEF” ... She also fails to prove a conversation with the defendant was published to a third person …The credit of both parties found wanting by NSW District Court Judge Judith Gibson ... more
Canada passes law to protect sources
Canadian journalists welcome important new law protecting their confidential sources … Burden of proof shifts from the journalist to those seeking the information … This report from Media Lawyer’s Mike Dodd … more