Emoji in lawyer's tweets capable of defamation ... Defence lawyer Burrows suing over zipped-mouth emoji ... Link to article on judge's criticism of her and her clients ... Emoji worth a "thousand words" ... "Joining the dots" on social media more likely to be sensational ... Imputations that Burrows was disciplined by professional body and faced criminal charges ... Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports ... more
Category: Imputations
Olesen v Nationwide News
NSW District Court ... Capacity and form ... NIDS service provider ... Imputations pleading fraudulent and improper conduct ... Broader identification of wrongdoing beyond those named ... "Intensity" of suspicion cast on a group ... Readers invited to "raise their eyebrows" ... Language "bristles with hints of wrongdoing" ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Nikolic v Nationwide News
Summary dismissal of a claim against The Australian's "Cut and Paste" section ... Tolerant and progressive plaintiff held out to be associated with the "No" case for marriage equality "No" ... Online identity theft using Twitter ... Unlikely to be lowered in public estimation since 40 percent of plebiscite voters were opposed to marriage equality ... Moral and social mores ... Inferences upon inferences ... Pleadings against Twitter, Google and Yahoo to be amended ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
John Jarratt v Nationwide News
John Jarratt sues Nationwide News over reported statements by his accuser in historic rape case ... Accuser reported to be "devastated" over actor's acquittal ... Earlier Supreme Court proceedings against the Telegraph discontinued ... New proceedings against the Sunday Telegraph commenced in the Federal Court ... "Assault by Media: The True Story Behind the Headlines" ... Statement of claim ... Naming the accused ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Park v Kim
Proceedings struck out by Judge Gibson ... Lack of defamatory meanings ... A rare case ... The text speaks for itself ... Loss of reputation not confined to those holding high office ... Notice of a dispute without "taking sides" ... True innuendo misconceived ... Leave to replead not granted ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Petro Poroshenko v British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC settles defamation claim by former president of Ukraine ... News at 10 alleged that Petro Poroschenko authorised a payment of $400,000 to Michael Cohen to arrange back-channel talks with the US president ... Determination of meanings as a preliminary issue ... Costs ... TV and website reports ... Parisa Hart reports ... more
Nisserine Nassif v Seven Network (Operations) Ltd; Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd; and Bryan Seymour
Wife of Parramatta property developer sues over allegation that her charity raised $210,000 to help disadvantaged children, but only spent $5000 ... Wiping Tears ... Pleadings ... Defences ... Contextual truth ... Viral video ... Federal Court ... Docket with Justice Wendy Abraham ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Victor Dominello v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd trading as 2GB
Important breakthrough for contextual truth defence ... State government minister unsuccessfully sought to "cover the field" by adopting the defendant's contextual truth imputations ... Plaintiff had no belief the contextual imputations were untrue ... Purpose of the amended statement of claim was to prevent 2GB relying on the contextual truth defence ... Abuse of process ... Stephen Murray reporting ... more
Knell v Harris & Lance & Netline Pty Ltd
Dispute over management of strata investment scheme ... Email to strata manager did not convey imputations of guilt ... Qualified privilege ... Information relevant to strata owners ... WA District Court ... Janek Drevikovsky reports ... more
D.G. Certifiers Pty Ltd & Anor v Hawksworth
Online posts critical of certification company and its proprietor ... Refusal to refund for services not provided ... Most of the imputations did not arise ... Triumph for self-represented defendant ... Nick Bonyhady reports ... more
Case note round-up
Interlocutory decisions in defamation ... ABC defends pleadings in affordable housing case ... Kambala's former principal gets partial discovery of school documents ... Qualified privilege for NT government department's advice to the minister ... WA charity directors not required for mediation ... Nick Bonyhady reports ... more
#MeSue
The #MeToo movement has generated its fair share of litigation as alleged perpetrators shape-up to meet their alleged victims in court ... Defamation ... Geoffrey Rush v Daily Telegraph ... Craig McLachlan v Fairfax and the ABC ... more