Tim Senior

The Australian Federal Police will investigate concerns that restricted material produced during the criminal trial of accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann was leaked to select media outlets.

Ten has failed in a push to question Bruce Lehrmann on whether he leaked restricted material produced during the accused rapist’s criminal trial to select media, as it defends itself against his defamation case, with a judge saying the network was “fishing”.

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has accused the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of a “contemptuous attempt” to prejudice the jury in a criminal trial over his alleged rape of former colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has filed defamation proceedings against the ABC, the third such lawsuit he has brought after suing Ten and a News Corp Unit over publications airing the rape allegations of his former colleague Brittany Higgins.

A judge has rejected a bid by The Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson to discover a 39,000-page AFP report outlining the contents of accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s phone, calling it “a classic fishing expedition.”

A judge who tossed a house painter’s case over a one-star Google review has awarded partial indemnity costs to the critic and said her order should serve as a lesson about the “catastrophic” costs of defamation cases.

A judge has expressed “reluctance” at a bid for accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann to face cross-examination at an upcoming hearing over whether his defamation claims against Network Ten, News Corp and two journalists should be tossed for being brought out of time.

From the ongoing saga of the high-profile Christian Porter action against the ABC to “backyard” litigation testing the serious harm bar, defamation cases made headlines in 2022, with winners and losers alike shelling out millions to lawyers to protect their reputations.

In one of the first cases to test a new ‘serious harm’ threshold for defamation matters, a judge has knocked back a NSW house painter’s defamation case over a one star Google review, saying that people would consider “unflattering” business reviews to be expressions of personal opinion. 

Former Channel 7 rugby league journalist Josh Massoud has lost an appeal of a decision clearing multiple media outlets of defamation over reports alleging he threatened to kill and defile the corpse of a young reporter.