Defamation

Author Peter FitzSimons is seeking costs from Bruce Lehrmann for complying with a subpoena in the former Liberal staffer’s defamation case against Network Ten and FitzSimons’ wife Lisa Wilkinson over the network’s airing of allegations that Lehrmann raped ex-colleague Brittany Higgins.

Did Bruce Lehrmann rape colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019? That is the primary question in the case to be decided by the Federal Court early next month, and the credibility of the two principal protagonists is central to answering that question.

Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto is facing the threat of two more defamation suits by organisers of last year’s anti-trans ‘Let Women Speak’ rally, which was crashed by neo-Nazis.

Law firm Gadens has strengthened its IP and defamation practice with the appointments of a partner and associate from rival Banki Haddock Fiora. 

A judge preparing to deliver his decision in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Ten has sought clarity from the TV network on submissions addressing alleged inconsistencies in Brittany Higgins’ settlement deed with the Commonwealth, querying whether the alleged rape victim should be recalled to the stand.

The leader of an abusive New Age cult operating out of northern NSW has lost her defamation case against a former follower who wrote a tell-all book about her experiences, after a judge found she was a “dishonest and unreliable” witness.

The mother of murder victim Shandee Blackburn has lost her bid to have a judge decide ahead of trial whether acquitted suspect John Peros suffered serious harm from Facebook posts that allegedly accused him of being a murderer.

The court might find Bruce Lehrmann’s story implausible, but that doesn’t mean Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape is the only possible alternative to what happened in Parliament House five years ago, Lehrmann’s lawyers have told a court.

A judge has found that an orthopaedic surgeon’s second bid to uncover a journalist’s confidential sources in defamation proceedings against Nine is an abuse of process in light of an earlier ruling that found the sources’ identities were protected by journalists’ privilege.

A judge has ordered Seven Network to pay $35,000 to a man who said he was defamed by the broadcaster, finding that he “spat towards” but not at the alleged rape victim of rugby league footballer Jarryd Hayne.