An Adelaide lawyer who won a long-running defamation battle over a Today Tonight story that described her as a “Centrelink cheat” has lost her bid for a bigger payout after a court found there was no misapprehension of fact or law in its determination of damages.
Television network Channel Seven has been ordered to pay $280,000 in damages to a lawyer after an appeals court ruled a Today Tonight segment labelling her a “Centrelink cheat” was defamatory.
A judge has dismissed a defamation case brought over a Today Tonight report that featured a violent confrontation of an Adelaide used-car salesman who allegedly ripped off a customer.
Channel Seven has lost a six-year defamation battle over a Today Tonight story that described a woman on single parenting payments as “the Centrelink cheat who got away”, after an appeals court found the publication was “manifestly unreasonable”.