Serious harm    June 22, 2025

Bottrill v Graham (No 2)

District Court of NSW … Former public servant establishes serious harm from podcast claims … Issue of whether establishing serious harm requires rulings on imputations … Whether serious harm can be established by inferences … No requirement for “mini-trials” … Submissions using Generative AI … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    June 11, 2025

MG v PJ

Queensland Court of Appeal … Appeal over dismissal of proceeding following failure to establish serious harm element fails … Appellant sued brother-in-law and nephew over statements to police resulting in protection notices … Correctness standard applies to evaluation of s.10A … Distillation of principles concerning application of s.10A … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    February 23, 2025

Ibrahim v Ye

County Court of Victoria … Specialist physician loses defamation action after failing to establish serious harm to his reputation … Sued over reviews on Google, Yelp and Yellow Pages … Inherent tendency of words offset by “extremely limited” extent of publication … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    December 1, 2024

Mannoun v Ristevski

District Court of NSW … Liverpool mayor has action against former accountant over Facebook comment dismissed … Allegations mayor was a “crim”, a “grub” and inflated the value of a business before selling it to a charity … Failed to establish serious harm … Limited readership of “shenanigans” page confined to those with a duty to monitor it or already had a poor view of the mayor … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Concerns Notices    October 3, 2024

Gayed v Virgin Mary & St Markorious Coptic Orthodox Church

Supreme Court of NSW … Coptic Orthodox Church parishioner seeks to sue priest and Church management over email sent to parishioners … Imputations of involvement in murder, money-laundering, theft and fraud … Said to be first instance of superior court of record considering validity of concerns notice with regards to serious harm element … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    October 1, 2024

Stevens v Birtic

District Court of Queensland … Fish truck operator has defamation claim against rival operator dismissed … Concerns notice failed to identify serious harm suffered … Claim and statement of claim said to suffer similar deficiencies … No leave to replead … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    August 30, 2024

Russell v S3@Raw Pty Ltd

Federal Court of Australia … Court rules s.10A(5) of Defamation Act concerning separate determination of serious harm not picked up by s.79 of the Judiciary Act … Constraint on Federal Court Act and Rules own provisions for case management … Sufficient particulars of serious harm in concerns notices … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    August 28, 2024

Peros v Nationwide News Pty Ltd & Ors (No 3)

Supreme Court of Queensland … Man acquitted of murder has defamation action over Hedley Thomas podcast episode dismissed … Failure to establish episode caused serious harm … Exegesis on serious harm element, causation and admissibility of evidence … Consideration of the rule in Dingle … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    August 9, 2024

McGilvery v Punter & Anor

District Court of Queensland … Sunshine Coast man fails to establish serious harm element … Sued brother-in-law and nephew after they made complaint to police … Publication limited to police reports, Police Protection Notices, and to body corporate treasurer … Only moderate harm to reputation established … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    March 10, 2024

Peros v Blackburn

Federal Court … Mother of murdered woman fails to obtain separate question hearing on serious harm … Sought hearing under Federal Court Rules, rather than s.10A(5) of the Defamation Act … Outcome may well have been different under Defamation Act … Justice Roger Derrington calls for changes to Rules … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    October 11, 2023

Jones v Jackson (No 2)

NSW District Court … Paralympian cyclist fails to establish serious harm element … Preliminary determination of issue … Limited engagement with Facebook post … No platform of facts … No evidence of harm caused to sporting career … Investigation not a consequence of post … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more

 

Serious harm    September 15, 2023

Hun v Aljazeera International (Malaysia) SBN BHD

Federal Court … Court rejects bid by Al Jazeera and The Australian for separate hearing on serious harm … Proceedings brought by nephew of Hun Sen … Court rejects “libel tourist” characterisation  … Case for serious harm not as weak as suggested by respondents … Courts Editor Stephen Murray reports … more