Fairfax seeks documents about tobacco company “iniquity” with which to fight injunctions which have stopped further newspaper reports of explosive allegations about lawyer conduct in cigarette litigation ... more
Convicted sex offender, known as “Little Pebble”, fails to stop Today Tonight broadcasting an interview with one of his victims. A second jury trial in relation to a further alleged victim is likely to be held in December 2005 ... more
Because the onus is on the media to get it right and an honest mistake is no defence to a charge of contempt, by and large courts have persisted with sloppy methods of notifying suppression orders to news rooms and in-house legal advisers ... more
Jurors should not be regarded as exceptionally fragile and prone to prejudice. Court of Appeal takes a firm hand with trial judges who coddle juries. A resounding win for open justice ... more
Magistrate’s suppression of the DPP’s opening address in the Bradley John Murdoch committal was valid. However, the suppression of photos of Murdoch was made without jurisdiction ... more
Newspapers improve procedures to guard against breaching suppression orders, yet the courts have an uneven, and often outmoded, system of notifing these orders ... more
Media commentary about Carl Williams and his family not likely to prejudice their imminent trials. Justice Cummins extols the robustness of the jury ... more
Magistrate applied the wrong test in suppressing the name of a murdered police informer. Justice Whelan in the Victorian Supreme Court quashes suppression order ... more
Fairfax challenges power of District Court to suppress publication of a guilty verdict where a second trial of the same accused is pending ... more
