From the ongoing saga of the high-profile Christian Porter action against the ABC to “backyard” litigation testing the serious harm bar, defamation cases made headlines in 2022, with winners and losers alike shelling out millions to lawyers to protect their reputations.
The state of Western Australia has been left with a $2 million legal bill for defending a defamation action by billionaire Clive Palmer and advancing cross-claims on behalf of premier Mark McGowan, which a judge blasted as “a futile exercise”.
A court has awarded Western Australia premier Mark McGowan and mining billionaire Clive Palmer paltry sums in their defamation battle, with a judge finding that Palmer suffered “very little damage” to his reputation.
A judge who has been an enthusiastic lab rat in the virtual hearing experiment forced on the country’s courts by the COVID-19 pandemic has expressed doubts that he is accurately reading witnessses giving remote evidence.
Western Australia premier Mark McGowan has been ordered to appear in person in a Sydney court to give evidence at trial in a defamation case by mining billionaire Clive Palmer, but a judge has pushed back the hearing so McGowan can attend state parliament.
Clive Palmer has won his bid to view text messages between Western Australian premier Mark McGowan and the state attorney-general discussing a bill to ban the billionaire mining magnate from suing the state for $30 billion.
The court has given the green light to an amended defamation defence by Clive Palmer which accuses Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan of “disgraceful and dishonourable conduct” and abusing his position by hastily and secretly enacting legislation that barred the billionaire mining magnate from suing the state for $30 billion.
A judge has partially struck out mining magnate Clive Palmer’s defence to WA Premier Mark McGowan’s defamation claim over statements which allegedly accused the premier of corruption, abusing his position and lying about the decision to close the state’s borders at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Billionaire Clive Palmer cannot defend the truth of alleged defamatory imputations that Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan tried to “cover up” criminal acts and was “corrupt”, the premier’s barrister has told the court.
A barrister for billionaire Clive Palmer has expressed doubt that the mining magnate’s defamation case against Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan can be resolved in mediation.