Justice McCallum finds for The Australian Jewish News in Feldman defamation case ... "Highest journalistic integrity" ... Honest opinion and justification made out by defendants ... Plaintiff attempting to revise the evidence he gave to the child sex abuse Royal Commission ... "Bizarre" evidence ... Contextual truth considered ... Defence of fair protected report rejected ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Category: Truth
#MeToo meets the law
Rush v Nationwide News … Cultural clash … Conflation of serious and trivial allegations … Complainants and the truth defence … Comment from media lawyer Graham Hryce ... more
Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd
Most of the Daily Telegraph's defence in the Geoffrey Rush defamation case struck out by Federal Court judge ... Defences determined before the imputations are argued ... Justice Michael Wigney explores innocent explanation for Rush being in the STC female toilets ... 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
Malgorzata Poniatowska v Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd & Anor
SA Supreme Court dismisses case brought against Today Tonight by a woman who was initially found to have acted fraudulently in relation to Centrelink payments … All the pleaded defences are upheld, including Lange qualified privilege ... more
Malcolm Weatherup v NewsCorp Australia
Townsville jury finds former Townsville Bulletin court reporter was defamed by a snippet in Sharri Markson’s media gossip column … It’s not true that Malcolm Weatherup was “habitually intoxicated” and “incurred the wrath of judges” ... more
Father John Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd & Anor
Long-running defamation action brought by a former Anglican priest (now Catholic) over sexual misconduct allegations ends in victory for the publishers … The defences of truth and contextual truth are established for five articles in a lengthy judgment redolent with graphic sexual detail ... more
Paul Hudson v Susan Mellis
Another self-represented plaintiff loses his case, this time in the QLD District Court … Judge David Reid finds the solicitor/plaintiff’s demeanour “aggressive”, “strident”, “grossly offensive and rude” ... more
Sandra De Poi v Advertiser News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd
Defamation action brought by the former partner of a South Australian Labor MP is dismissed … It’s true that Sandra De Poi knowingly engaged in dishonest electoral practices by wearing a bogus “Family First” T-shirt and handing out fake how-to-vote cards ... more
Anthony Allen v Laurel Lloyd-Jones
Re-hearing of “bullying” imputations pits former mayor of Bega Tony Allen against his old critic, local Franciscan nun, Laurel Lloyd-Jones … Truth and damages at stake ... more
Shift2Neutral Pty Ltd & Brett Goldsworthy v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd & Anor
Judgment for the defendant … Fairfax Media proves that carbon credit company Shift2Neutral was a fake and its founder a liar … Acting Justice Henric Nicholas upholds truth defence for all imputations ... more
Born Brands Pty Ltd & Ors v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd & Ors
Channel Nine defeats defamation and injurious falsehood claims brought over a news item which warned consumers about the dangers of baby “sleep positioners” ... Justice Christine Adamson determines the plaintiffs’ case fails the first threshold – meaning – and the rest ... more