Gazette

Melbourne jury awards Olympic cyclist Mark French, who was accused of being a drug cheat, damages of $350,000 after finding that radio station Triple M’s defence of fair comment is defeated by malice ... more

Northern Territory Court of Appeal increases damages awarded – from $12,000 to $80,000 – to a man the Centralian Advocate and the Northern Territory News unfairly and inaccurately named as the perpetrator of a vicious assault … more

The NSW Court of Appeal increases by $150,000 the damages paid to a man accused of being a fundraiser for Laskar Jihad and a supporter of terrorism. The defamation of the former secretary of the Dee Why mosque by The Australian must have been “close to catastrophic”, the court finds ... more

Everest mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape awarded $448,500 damages over a 4 Corners program that alleged he deceived schools in order to recruit students for self-styled prophet Jeremy Griffith. Griffith’s action against the same program fails ... more

Frank Lewincamp, the former director of Defence Intelligence Organisation, has been awarded $375,000 over two Bulletin articles and a leaked government report. Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko finds the magazine was motivated by malice – “a desire to publish a sensational story … to increase circulation” ... more

The NSW Supreme Court’s Chief Justice at Common Law Peter McClellan takes a conservative approach to damages under the new Defamation Act (2005) and awards actress Judy Davis $140,000 for one “defamation proceeding” involving two similar articles published by Nationwide News ... more

The NSW Supreme Court’s Chief Judge at Common Law Peter McClellan wrestles with the question of damages, the pervasiveness of the internet and the exigencies of malice under the new uniform Defamation Act (2005) during Judy Davis’ damages hearing ... more

Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson finds for the plaintiff and delivers the first NSW Supreme Court damages decision under the new uniform Defamation Act (2005). She awards Brett Holmes, General Secretary of the NSW Nurses’ Association, $70,000 for a malicious publication by NSW National MP Andrew Fraser ... more

A “tissue thin” case in justification, a failed comment defence and a “serious attack” on the plaintiff’s reputation results in high damages of $360,000 for Olympic boss John Coates. Justice Michael Adams delivers a judgment he prefigured during trial ... more

Bowling club stoush results in what appears to be the first NSW damages award under the uniform defamation laws. District Court judge Judith Gibson awards $25,000 plus costs over an anonymous broadsheet published to four people in Tathra ... more

The Nine Network settles for $300,000 a defamation action brought by a NSW highway patrolman. Another feather in the cap of ACA reporter Ben Fordham ... more