Former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith has lost his defamation case against Nine-owned Fairfax, with a judge finding Thursday it was true that Australia’s most decorated soldier committed civilian murders in Afghanistan.
With truth on its side, Nine’s defeat of soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s lawsuit was a huge win for investigative journalism in Australia, but while it might make lawyers blink before bringing defamation cases, the victory is not a game-changer, experts say.
A judge has shaved $80,000 off the damages recently awarded to a Papua New Guinea politician who sued Fairfax Media over a series of articles published in the Australian Financial Review, after finding she wrongly discounted a mitigation defence by the publisher.
A top orthopaedic surgeon and former NSW Australian of the year has sued Channel Nine and Fairfax for defamation over a recent 60 Minutes episode and articles that appeared in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
A Sydney lawyer has sued the owners of three websites which allegedly published defamatory articles accusing her of trying to defraud $16,000 from David Jones, claiming her employment prospects have been damaged.
Soldiers who took the stand for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation case against Fairfax colluded on the evidence they gave of key events, counsel for Fairfax has told a judge as a long-running trial comes to a close.
Fairfax has foreshadowed a fight over whether former synagogue president and Victorian Liberal party treasurer David Mond suffered ‘serious harm’ as a result of articles published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald accusing him of deciding to host a speech by a convicted spy.
Alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has won a bid to call a troop commander known as Person 81 in his defamation trial against Fairfax Media, despite the media company’s objections.
Actor Craig McLachlan has dropped his defamation suit against the ABC, Fairfax and actress Christie Whelan Browne mid-trial just as the defence was due to start its case.
Ben Roberts-Smith, who is suing Fairfax for defamation, has lost an appeal of a judge’s decision refusing cross-examination of his ex-wife over allegations she accessed his private emails.