Category: Imputations

The ABC fails to strike out defamation proceedings brought by Alice Springs Aboriginal art dealer Stephen Nibbs, who was referred to as “a carpetbagger” in a Four Corners program ... more

NSW District Court Judge Leonard Levy dismisses 2UE and 2GB application to strike out the bulk of imputations pleaded by Mamdouh Habib. The former Guantanamo Bay detainee’s last defamation action survives, for now ... more

NSW District Court Judge Judith Gibson refuses to strike out six imputations pleaded by a former NSW policeman The Daily Telegraph included in a “rogue’s gallery of corrupt cops” ... more

A test case for the liability of search engines gets the green light as Yahoo loses its bid to strike out a defamation action brought over a search result. Victorian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye also allows Michael Trkulja to replead his case against Google ... more

Self-proclaimed NRL “Cougar” Charmyne Palavi retains all five pleaded imputations in her first stoush with Steve Price and 2UE … Sex shop owner Con Ange holds onto an imputation that he “horrified Sharks players’ partners by distributing sex toys to the players” ... more

High Court majority finds NSW Court of Appeal got it wrong in Gacic. Business defamation is bogus – but it’s cold comfort for Radio 2UE. The trial judge didn’t misdirect the s.7A jury in columnist Ray Chesterton’s action over a John Laws outburst ... more

ACT Supreme Court judge Malcolm Gray delivers a rare victory for the media, finding that no defamatory imputations were conveyed by an article in The Australian about Macquarie Bank and two of its executives. He also finds “little to commend the content” ... more

The High Court under new Chief Justice Robert French grants special leave in 2UE v Chesterton, opening reconsideration of its own verdict on so-called “business defamation” in Gacic v John Fairfax Publications. Special leave is refused Queensland Newspapers in its hard-fought battle with property marketeer Ron Cross ... more

Defamation proceedings brought against The Daily Telegraph over its coverage of disgraced crown prosecutor Patrick Power’s character referees are far from over. Eight more of “Pervert Power’s 59 mates” are taking action ... more

NSW Court of Appeal finds Justice Carolyn Simpson didn’t misdirect a s.7A jury when she distinguished between “personal” and “business” imputations in Ray Chesterton’s action against 2UE over a broadcast by John Laws. Gacic is good law and was properly applied ... more

2UE’s barrister Richard McHugh SC argues Gacic v Fairfax was wrongly decided by the NSW Court of Appeal and wrongly applied by Justice Carolyn Simpson in her directions to the jury in Ray Chesterton’s s.7A trial. There is no such thing as “business defamation” ... more

NSW Court of Appeal unanimously overturns Justice Caroline Simpson’s finding that a Daily Telegraph story imputed mere suspicion, and not guilt, in relation to the abduction and indecent assault of a seven year-old boy ... more