Gazette

Toowoomba real estate agent awarded $100,000 over a malicious letter sent to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and others … District Court judge rejects both common law and statutory qualified privilege defences and finds malice ... more

Last of the at-large damages claims under the old Defamation Act gets a second hearing in the NSW Supreme Court … Gacics emote wildly … Fairfax seeks to exclude the restaurant actually reviewed by Matthew Evans from consideration ... more

The “antithesis of proper journalistic conduct” ... District Court Judge Michael Bozic awards fraud squad detective Rafiq Ahmed $325,000 in damages for a malicious Sunday Telegraph story which accused him of being “one of the most corrupt cops in NSW” ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson orders publisher of Macedonian newspaper and his source to pay damages of $350,000 for defaming an invalid pensioner … The defendants failed to turn up to court … more

Melbourne man awarded $200,000 over defamatory website accessed via Google … Michael Trkulja’s second victory against a search engine … Partial success for innocent dissemination defence ... more

Victorian County Court judge awards damages of $85,000 to tax agent over a malicious letter sent to the Tax Practitioners Board by her former employer ... more

“Raw prawn” allegations net wrongly accused Coles customer $50,000 in damages. NSW District Court Judge Len Levy finds artist was subjected to “embarrassing and humiliating accusations” ... more

Successful plaintiff who admitted he was “morally despicable” gets dismal damages of $4500 … NSW Supreme Court Justice Christine Adamson finds “weighty evidence” in mitigation ... more

Toowoomba shed builder gets damages of $50,000 for three conversations a jury found to be defamatory … The damaging allegations were published to three people on separate occasions ... more

In the UK, a man convicted of murder and then acquitted has won damages of £125,000 in a libel action against the police over a press release … Justification and qualified privilege fail … This report from the media law blog Inforrm ... more

Former Tasmanian policeman awarded record damages of $124,500 over 35 defamatory publications in The Mercury which repeatedly referred to him as “Sergeant Sleaze” ... more

A Melbourne man who sued Yahoo! over an internet search result that made him look like he was involved in the criminal underworld, has been awarded $225,000 by Victorian Supreme Court judge Stephen Kaye ... more

Alice Springs real estate agent awarded $100,000 damages over a defamatory article in the Alice Springs News (circulation 11,500) ... more

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib wins his final defamation action – against 2UE and 2GB. NSW District Court Judge Len Levy awards him total damages of $176,296 for three broadcasts ... more