Gazette

Retired journalist Ray Chesterton awarded $90,000 damages over a “comprehensive assault” on his reputation by John Laws. Despite his denials, Justice Lucy McCallum finds Chesterton was indeed known as “Ankles” (i.e. lower than a c***) ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter McClellan has awarded former terrorist suspect Mamdouh Habib minimal damages of $5000 over a defamatory column by The Daily Telegraph’s Piers Akerman ... more

Mamdouh Habib’s barrister takes an inventive approach to damages and asks that publicity given to the initial judgment – later overturned – be taken as “furthering the harm to the plaintiff’s reputation”. Nationwide News resists ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman awards Granville immigration agent Abdullah Ahmadi paltry damages of $7500 over a Sydney Morning Herald article that accused him of being a people smuggler ... more

After a six-year legal battle, Drummoyne Council’s former mayor and general manager reap damages exceeding $600,000 over a series of “political scandal sheets”. The defence of qualified privilege fails for 33 imputations ... more

Former Olympic cyclist Mark French gets damages of $175,000 over a Herald Sun article that called him a drug cheat. After dismissing the jury, Victorian Supreme Court Justice David Beach takes two weeks to hear the evidence and deliver his verdict ... more

Jury awards damages of $630,000 to Melbourne silk … Book about provocation in the Ramage murder trial … Julian Burnside QC exposes lack of belief in the central accusation that the plaintiff helped concoct a defence of provocation … (Revised) ... more

Counsel for Fairfax Media asks NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman to award immigration agent Abdullah Ahmadi nominal damages over untrue allegations that he is a people smuggler ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Henric Nicholas awards Sydney plastic and cosmetic surgeon Dr Peter Haertsch damages of $267,919 – including aggravated damages – over A Current Affair report he describes as “gutter journalism” ... more

Full bench of the NSW Court of Appeal asked to overturn a judgment that says post-publication evidence of “bad character” can’t mitigate damages. The plaintiff’s favourite advocate, Clive Evatt, finds himself in the tricky position of arguing against continuing harm ... more

A doctor who failed to defend a libel action brought by a naturopath has been ordered to pay damages of $70,000 over a series of defamatory emails and postings on his website. He was also permanently restrained from further defamatory publication ... more