Facing laws strongly favouring plaintiffs and defamation claims based on allegations of an historic rape with no witnesses, the ABC has an uphill battle in defending itself against Attorney-General Christian Porter’s case alleging the national broadcaster engaged in a campaign to destroy his reputation, experts say.
A Sydney solicitor has won an extension of time to file a defamation case against Network Ten after an appeals court found he had valid reason for not bringing the case by the one-year deadline — fighting criminal charges that were eventually dropped.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has filed defamation proceedings in the Federal Court against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan over an online article he says made false allegations against him.
Former senator David Leyonhjelm has lost his appeal of a ruling ordering him to pay $120,000 to Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young for defaming her in a series of interviews in 2018.
A lawyer who a judge accused of “abysmal arrogance and sense of privilege” has won her appeal of a ruling ordering her to pay $360,000 to her Balmain neighbour after a long-running property dispute culminated in an allegedly defamatory interview that was broadcast to over one million TV viewers on A Current Affair.
Former Labor MP Melissa Parke has failed in her bid to strike down the honest opinion defence of Herald Sun executive Dr Colin Rubenstein in her lawsuit alleging the director defamed her in an email and article relating to her 2019 pre-selection speech.
A barrister for a Sydney criminal lawyer who wears hearing aids and is suing News Corp’s Nationwide News over allegedly defamatory Daily Telegraph articles referring to his profound deafness has likened the stories to accusing bespectacled lawyers of being blind.
Nine-owned Fairfax will have to pay out over $2 million in legal fees after being hit with indemnity costs on top of a $280,000 judgment in its defamation spat with venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead for its “Micawber-like” approach to the case.
Venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead is seeking indemnity costs after being awarded $280,000 in her defamation case against Nine-owned Fairfax, which she accuses of rejecting several settlement offers with “bugger off letters” and engaging in a “petulant campaign” of media coverage post-judgment.
Venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead has been awarded $280,000 in her defamation case against the Nine-owned Australian Financial Review after the Federal Court found she suffered hurt and damage to her reputation through a “targeted campaign of offensive mockery” about her role in collapsed investment firm Blue Sky Alternative Investments.