The NSW Court of Appeal orders new trial after finding Justice Michael Adams guilty of ostensible bias. In a crisp 14-page judgment the court found Adams “at an early stage had expressed strong views that could be seen as indicating pre-judgment” ... more
Year: 2007
Jane Doe v Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Terence Rickard & Valerio Veo
Victoria’s Justice Felicity Hampel takes “the next, incremental step” in the development of a law of privacy by awarding damages to a woman whom the ABC identified as a rape victim ... more
Defamation round-up
Defamation round-up: Matt Mitchell v MAX FM … Huge ABC payout for Norman Swan story … Ghosts of the NRMA stirred again by Richard Talbot … Sunday goes down in s.7A trial … Sydney Morning Herald settles with the former PM of Bangladesh ... more
Griffith & Macartney-Snape v ABC & Millikan
The second leg of Tim Macartney-Snape’s defamation action against the ABC intensifies with the Everest mountaineer conceding he expected his reputation to be diminished by his association with self-proclaimed “prophet” Jeremy Griffith ... more
Griffith & Macartney-Snape v ABC & Millikan
Science – good, bad and “respectable” – has come under the microscope in the first few days of author Jeremy Griffith’s long-running defamation action against the ABC and religious broadcaster David Millikan. Mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape’s reputation is also under scrutiny ... more
Romzi Ali v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
Justice Bruce James awards Romzi Ali, the former secretary of the Dee Why mosque, damages of $125,000 after Nationwide News withdrew its defences. Ali sued over three articles in The Australian that accused him of being a supporter of terrorism … more
Edward Obeid v Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Judge Judith Gibson takes a leaf from Justice Cliff Hoeben’s book and awards former NSW minister Eddie Obeid exactly the same damages awarded against Fairfax. This time it’s $150,000 for a broadcast on the Sally Loane Show … more
Brett May v Channel Nine Pty Ltd, Nine Network Aust Pty Ltd, Australian News Network Pty Ltd and Royce George
Channel Nine defamed a Bathurst highway patrolman, who was accused by A Current Affair of booking firemen on their way to an emergency ... more
DPP v Corby
Queensland Court of Appeal freezes payments to the Corby family from Schapelle Corby’s book My Story and interviews her sister Mercedes gave to New Idea. The Corbys have missed the June 15 appeal deadline ... more
Burns v Laws
The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal has found that while radio jock John Laws vilified homosexuals in a 2004 broadcast about Queer Eye’s Carson Kressley, he did so “in good faith and in the public interest”. Gay activist Gary Burns’ complaint is dismissed ... more
Richard Sheehan v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
A man who claimed $750,000 damages after he slipped on a greasy potato scallop has been entirely successful in the first part of his defamation action against The Daily Telegraph. But not before the editor of The Sunday Telegraph excused himself from jury duty ... more
Anwar Al Barq v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
For the second time in a week Nationwide News has been unable to defend allegations against two Muslims it accused of of having terrorist associations. The Daily Telegraph settles with cleric Anwar Al Barq just as the s.7A trial was about to commence ... more