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”.
WA premier Mark McGowan has won the legal costs of running his defamation cross-claim against businessman Clive Palmer after a judge learned McGowan made a walk-away settlement offer in December last year.
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.
Hoping to correct “mistakes” in his testimony in the trial of Clive Palmer’s defamation case, Western Australia Attorney-General John Quigley will get the chance to amend his evidence as a witness for state premier Mark McGowan next month.
WA Attorney-General John Quigley wants a second go at his trial testimony in a defamation case brought by mining magnate Clive Palmer, admitting he made “mistakes” while giving evidence in the witness box.
A judge overseeing the closely watched trial in Clive Palmer’s defamation case against WA Premier Mark McGowan has vented his frustrations with the state of Australian defamation proceedings, railing against what he said was the common practice of parties refusing to concede even minor points.
Comments made about Clive Palmer by Western Australia premier Mark McGowan in press conferences were “heavy with historical and sinister significance”, a court has heard on the first day of trial in the mining billionaire’s defamation case.
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.