Category: Truth

Murder suspect Derick Sands loses another defamation action, this time against the SA Police … Defence of justification succeeds for press conference and press release as the plaintiff is found to have lied (again) ... more

Massive victory for the Commonwealth Bank as former employee Vivienne Dye loses all her actions – including in defamation and injurious falsehood … Reply-to-attack qualified privilege gets a rare showing ... more

Failed telco’s $142 million defamation action against Fairfax stutters to a start this week … The plaintiff’s counsel accuses Fairfax of irresponsible journalism … The judge adjourns for two days to give expert accounting witnesses the opportunity to agree – or disagree ... more

Fairfax appeals a “most regrettable” decision by Justice Carolyn Simpson, which effectively emasculated the contextual truth defence under the new uniform Defamation Act. The court hears complex argument from counsel for Fairfax and counsel for taxi tsar Reg Kermode ... more

The NSW Court of Appeal takes a hatchet to Justice Peter McClellan’s judgment and Muslim community spokesman Keysar Trad wins his appeal against 2GB – in part ... more

God on their side? “Christians in the Media” win defamation action brought by a man expelled for allegedly sexually harassing young female parishioners … NSW Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson finds it was true ... more

The barrister for alleged war criminal Daniel Snedden struggles to convince the NSW Court of Appeal that Justice Megan Latham got it wrong when she found it true that Snedden committed a massacre and was a rapist – among other things ... more

Derick Sands, the press photographer and erstwhile boyfriend of former federal MP Trish Draper fails in two appeals – against Channel Seven and the ABC ... more

Armidale Dumaresq Council wins defamation action brought by its former mayor. NSW Supreme Court Justice Bruce James upholds the majority of defences pleaded – truth, comment and qualified privilege – both statutory and common law ... more

Former terrorist suspect Mamdouh Habib wins appeal over Piers Akerman article that alleged he “knowingly made some false claims”. NSW Court of Appeal finds Justice Peter McClellan wrongly admitted evidence obtained while Habib was being interrogated in Pakistan and Guantanamo Bay ... more

Best-selling legal writer John Grisham stars in his own courtroom drama and wins. NSW District Court Defamation List Judge Judith Gibson reviews the US Court of Appeals’ rejection of defamation (and other) proceedings brought by three plaintiffs over several non-fiction books ... more

Nationwide News wins its truth case against Daniel Snedden (aka Captain Dragan). After considering some “harrowing” evidence, NSW Supreme Court Justice Megan Latham concludes that the alleged Serbian war criminal is just that ... more