Defamation & Protecting Reputation

“ Australia’s Uniform Defamation Laws There are no provisions for jury trials in South Australia, the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory uniform laws. Tasmania omits section 10 prohibiting actions by or against the dead. ”

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“ Defamation legal principles remain grounded in the common law and the uniform Defamation Act 2005 provides that the operation of the common law as regards the tort of defamation is not affected by the new statutory regime except to the extent that the statute provides otherwise. The starting point ... ”

“ Defamation claims over offensive but innocuous remarks are serious threats to the credibility of the justice system, especially in cases where a plaintiff has suffered no real harm. These claims are likely to be relegated to legal history anytime soon so you need to think twice about commencing a ... ”

“ While the United States Constitution includes the right to free speech in the First Amendment, there is no comparable constitutional right in the United Kingdom or Australia. In the UK, section 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 includes the right to freedom of expression subject to such restrictions ... ”

“ A plaintiff will inevitably read more into a defamatory publication than the defendant with heightened sensitivity about possible meanings that could be derived from the publication. The ordinary reasonable reader or viewer as represented by the jury will generally find a meaning or meanings in the ... ”

“ Journalists – and writers more generally – will usually send a list of questions to anyone they are writing about who is likely to object to what is being said. If you defame a person without first giving them the opportunity to respond to what you are saying then you will pay aggravated damages ... ”

“ All common law defences with the exception of truth and absolute privilege are defeated by malice. Malice at common law includes improper motive, ill will, knowing a publication was false and reckless indifference to truth or falsity. Like the common law defences, each of the statutory defences – ... ”

“ For the defence of fair comment to succeed, there must be evidence that the comment represents the defendant’s own honestly held point of view. The test is whether a fair-minded person could honestly express the opinion in question, not whether the opinion is agreeable or even rational. In fact, ... ”

“ In order to obtain the benefit of the qualified privilege defence at common law, you should be careful to publish defamatory material only to people with whom you have a common or reciprocal interest involving your business or private affairs and in circumstances where you have a legal or moral ... ”

“ There are severe cost penalties under Australian law for running an unsuccessful truth defence in defamation proceedings. You will probably be advised to drop the defence if other defences are available such as comment and qualified privilege. By all means plead truth initially to put the plaintiff ... ”

“ In a case where there is little doubt that the plaintiff has been defamed, a grovelling and apologetic defendant is more likely to avoid proceedings than an aggressive and unapologetic one. Either way, the wise defendant will offer to make amends by following the procedure laid down in Part 3 of ... ”

“ In the course of completing this work, I have laboured the point that a gross injustice seems to occur in circumstances where costs of a million plus dollars follow a paltry damages award to the plaintiff of a few thousand dollars. Despite the offer to make amends provisions in the uniform ... ”