Defamation

A judge overseeing a Papua New Guinean politician’s defamation lawsuit has criticised Nine’s refusal to take down two allegedly defamatory articles ahead of a delayed trial, saying there was no reason to keep them online except for the publisher’s “pride or ego”.

The Australian Bar Association has criticised “flawed” methodology used to analyse the competency of judges, weighing in on controversy over the Australian Law Reform Commission’s handling of a submission to its judicial impartiality inquiry.

A judge who dismissed a defamation case against HarperCollins by two psychiatrists who administered the controversial deep sleep therapy at Chelmsford Private Hospital in the 1970s was criticised Monday for her ‘presumptuous cynicism’.

A $50,000 settlement agreement between Nationwide News and an art collector who alleged he was defamed by a Sunday Telegraph article was invalid because the dealer lied to the publisher, a court has been told.

Former vice president of the Victorian Liberal Party Marcus Bastiaan has hit Nine with a defamation lawsuit over an explosive 60 Minutes report which allegedly implied the Sydney man was a political power broker with an illegal branch stacking operation.

A Gold Coast developer must re-plead allegations in a defamation lawsuit against Fairfax over an article alleging he met a former Ipswich mayor at a brothel, after a judge struck out several claims that he described as “spectacularly imaginative and utterly unreasonable”.

Liberal MP Christian Porter is effectively asking the court to “protect his reputation” by seeking to block Nine and NewsCorp from using secret portions of the ABC’s defence to his defamation allegations, Nine told a judge in opposing the move.

YouTuber Jordan Shanks has been sent back to the drawing board with his defence in a defamation case brought by NSW Deputy Premier Jon Barilaro after the Federal Court found parliamentary privilege protected the politician in the face of a truth defence to some allegations.

Liberal MP Christian Porter has asked a court to ensure Nine and News Corp. do not use secret portions of ABC’s defence to his defamation allegations, which the media giants accessed as intervenors in the former federal Attorney-General’s case.

A lawyer for accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has told a judge his ex-wife did not honestly disclose whether she had given her close friend access to her former husband’s email account, and had misused his confidential and privileged information.