Category: Damages

The plaintiff had an attitude that electors in Hindmarsh may be denied “choice” in politics, and further that in denying that choice “union pressure tactics” could be applied. The plaintiff’s history as an activist in union matters imputed to him an attitude which was overbearing, arrogant and dictatorial. … more

The plaintiff was a party to an underhand scheme to get another person elected as his successor as branch secretary to a union, and the plaintiff was a party to forgery. … more

A swimming coach criticised the managerial skills and qualifications of his competitor in the context of a bid to win the rights to manage and coach at a council swimming pool. … more

The plaintiff, a stipendiary magistrate, acted unjudicially and was motivated by improper prejudice in passing a more severe sentence than he otherwise would have done, merely because the offender was Aboriginal. … more

The plaintiffs had committed offences against the liquor laws of the Territory. … more

The plaintiff, as leader of the NSW Country Party, lacked the confidence of a majority of members of his party. … more

The defendant, an alderman, caused the publication of statements in a newspaper alleging that “an officer” of the Hobart City Council had disclosed confidential information concerning a proposed car park and shopping centre development to another developer. The words were held to be capable of identifying the plaintiff (city architect) to a small class of persons with knowledge of the development. … more

The plaintiff’s removal from the office of Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs was imminent; he lobbied for his appointment by means of public statements calculated to be acceptable to the political party which held power; he had an excessive degree of self-consciousness; he was politically inept and involved himself in party politics; and he failed to understand or cope with the relationship between foreign policy and domestic politics. … more

The plaintiff, wife of Australia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, was a woman of such poor taste and so lacking in a sense of diplomacy that she was prepared to lobby her husband’s former colleagues to change his posting to suit her preference, and having been unsuccessful, with bad grace she accepted second best. … more

The plaintiff had bribed or manipulated voters by providing alcohol on election day. … more

The plaintiff, a permanent head of a government department, had been unilaterally terminated by vote of Cabinet for poor performance. (The article was headed “MP’s View, Hewitt sacked to cut criticism”.) … more

The plaintiff failed to observe the professional and ethical standards required of a legal practitioner; failed to act honourably in accordance with the accepted code of personal moral behaviour; failed to keep the standards of upright conduct which ought to be observed by a politician belonging to the ALP; betrayed the confidence of a trade union which was his client by giving away information which had been entrusted to him professionally and, all the more so, by supplying that information to a member of an opposing political party; and in so doing he was actuated by feelings of revenge or retaliation against certain other unions. … more