Media companies that are fighting defamation proceedings over articles that accused decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith of war crimes have won court permission to amend their defence to include evidence the soldier was involved in another alleged murder.
Underworld figure Mick Gatto has been denied a trial by jury in his defamation proceedings against the ABC, with the judge-only hearing scheduled to start next week.
Venture capitalist Elaine Stead has refused to go into a second round of mediation in her defamation case against the Nine-owned Fairfax Media Publications saying it would be a “waste of time”.
A judge has slammed a lawyer for her “abysmal arrogance and sense of privilege”, ordering her to pay $300,000 to her Balmain neighbour after a long-running property dispute culminated in a defamatory interview that was broadcast to over one million TV viewers on A Current Affair.
Former Liberal leader John Hewson has filed a defamation suit against Nine, claiming a report by A Current Affair about his insurance firm was gratuitous and “seriously dishonest”.
Daily Telegraph publisher Nationwide News has failed in its appeal of a judgment that found it defamed Geoffrey Rush in articles that accused the Oscar-winning actor of sexually inappropriate behaviour, with an appeals court describing the stories as a “sensationalised tabloid crusade”.
After claiming he could be vindicated only by giving evidence in open court, war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith looks likely to get his wish, as the parties to his defamation proceedings finalise negotiations with the Federal Government on the use of national security information.
A Federal Court judge overseeing Papua New Guinean Politician William Duma’s defamation lawsuit against Fairfax Media has said he would like to move case management hearings online permanently, saying the move to virtual courtrooms was one good that had resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.
A judge has given the green light for HarperCollins to use several documents from a royal commission in its defence of defamation proceedings brought against it by two psychiatrists at the centre of the deep sleep therapy scandal that rocked the medical world in the 1960s and 70s.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will have to face trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by a Queensland building and mortgage company over two media releases the corporate regulator issued in 2018 and 2019, after defeating a separate $10 million defamation case last year.