In a Statement in Open Court [pdf] read before Warby J on 16 May 2019 it was recorded that a motorcycle enthusiast had won libel claims against four national newspapers that had falsely claimed he attempted to deceive the public into believing he was a police officer. Read the rest of this entry »
News: Statement in Open Court: Damages against four newspapers awarded to “Police Notice” biker over false impersonation claims
19 05 2019Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Carter-Ruck, Statement in Open Court
Categories : Libel
Case Law, Australia: Chau v Fairfax Media Publications PL, Philanthropist Wins Round One – Justin Castelan
4 05 2019
Dr Chau Chak Wing is a wealthy Chinese-born Australian citizen. He has extensive business interests in China and is a very generous philanthropist. He has donated enormous sums of money to a number of universities and public institutions in Australia, as well as having made donations to the main political parties in Australia. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Australia, Caselaw, Libel
Case Law Update: Five recent media law judgments
25 04 2019
In the last week of the Hilary Legal Term, after our last weekly round up, five media law judgments were handed down. Two by the Court of Appeal and three at first instance. These deal with a number of important issues, particularly in the field of privacy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Caselaw, Libel, Privacy
Geoffrey Rush’s victory in his defamation case could have a chilling effect on the #MeToo movement – Karen O’Connell
16 04 2019
The decision in Geoffrey Rush v Nationwide News, handed down today in Australia’s federal court, is the first – and so far, only – legal determination of a case associated with the #MeToo movement in Australia. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Australia, Libel
Supreme Court considers social media defamation: context is everything – Iain Wilson
11 04 2019
Some practitioners were surprised that Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17 reached the country’s highest court. The appeal concerned the meaning (or imputation) of words in a libel action. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Iain Wilson, Meaning, Stocker v Stocker, UK Supreme Court
Categories : Libel
Case Law: Stocker v Stocker, Supreme Court overturns Judge on meaning of “tried to strangle” – Oliver Cox
5 04 2019
On 3 April 2019 the Supreme Court gave its judgment in Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17. The five Supreme Court judges (Lord Reed, Lord Kerr, Lady Black, Lord Briggs and Lord Kitchin) unanimously overturned the 12 February 2018 Court of Appeal decision given by Lady Justice Sharp, Lord Justice McFarlane and Sir John Laws ([2018] EWCA Civ 170). Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Defamatory Meaning, Oliver Cox, Supreme Court
Categories : Caselaw, Libel
A closer look at the public interest defence – Jessica Lovell
3 04 2019Section 4 
of the Defamation Act 2013 (“the Act”) gives defendants who have published material concerning matters of public interest a defence to an action for defamation. The archetypal defendant in this context would usually be a professional journalist who has published a piece of investigative journalism.
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Tags: Himsworth Scott, Jessica Lovell, Public Interest, Section 4
Categories : Journalism, Libel
Politicians suing for defamation is usually a bad idea: here’s why – Michael Douglas
29 03 2019
When The Project host Waleed Aly began his editorial in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, he apologised that “these won’t be my best words”. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Michael Douglas, The Conversation
Categories : Australia, Government and Policy, Libel
Case Law, Australia: O’Reilly v Edgar, Fact free Facebook Posts, $250,000 damages – Gabrielle Hunter
24 03 2019
In the case of O’Reilly v Edgar ([2019] QSC 24) the Supreme Court of Queensland awarded Kelvin O’Reilly, the CEO of a go-kart racing organisation, $270 658.71 in damages, including aggravated damages, for defamatory posts by a Facebook troll. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Gabrielle Hunter, Gazette of Law and Journalism
Categories : Australia, Caselaw, Libel, Social Media
News: Specialist Media Barristers’ Chambers One Brick Court announces dissolution
20 03 2019
One Brick Court, the long established set of specialist media law barristers has announced today that it is to dissolve, with effect from 24 June 2019. The set has explained that the dissolution is due to “recent unexpected departures and a retirement“. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: One Brick Court
Categories : Libel, Media
