Defamation

A judge has pulled up a law firm over a tweet it published about defamation proceedings brought by investor Tolga Kumova, telling a barrister during the trial Thursday to counsel his instructing solicitors about the “highly unsatisfactory” social media post.

Former Young Rich Lister Tolga Kumova has admitted to publishing an inaccurate tweet about the value of a mineral resource owned by a zinc producer of which he was a director, agreeing at trial in his defamation case that he was off by $4.8 billion.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has asked the High Court to overturn an appeals court judgment that found a tweet labelling him a “rape apologist” was not defamatory.

A judge has dismissed a case seeking to force Nine to hand over draft versions of a 60 Minutes episode and related stories, after an appeals court threw out orders that would have forced production of the material.

Nine has won its legal challenge to orders that would have forced it to hand over a draft version of a 60 Minutes episode and restricted it from airing the program after an appeals court found a judge had no power to make the orders.

The Federal Court has ordered social media giant Twitter to produce information related to a user on the platform who goes by the name PRGuy.

A judge has ordered that Google pay $715,000 to former deputy premier of NSW John Barilaro over a “relentless, racist, vilificatory, abusive and defamatory campaign” by YouTube commentator Jordan Shanks that the tech giant “did nothing” to stop.

A former solicitor at the Victorian state revenue office who was dismissed after alleged sexual harassment and “scandalous staring” has won his appeal in a defamation case against the Victorian government, with the case being sent to a judge for trial.

A judge has questioned how the court will award costs in refugee activist Shane Bazzi’s successful appeal against coalition leader Peter Dutton, saying crowdfunding for the activist’s legal costs made the issue “complicated and difficult”.

A barrister for CEO and founder of Euro Pacific Bank Peter Schiff has raised concerns that Nine has filed an unlawful defence in a defamation case over a 60 Minutes episode accusing the bank boss of tax evasion and helping figures in organised crime.