Defamation - and Damages !

Rebel Wilson had a big win when she sued the publisher of a leading women's magazine for defamation and was awarded $3.9 million in compensation.   The court accepted that the magazine knew that the story it published was untrue and Wilson claimed that the adverse publicity caused her to lose the starring role in a movie.

What the courts giveth - the courts can also take away.   The Court of Appeal reduced that payout to just $600,000 dollars but Wilson had pledged to give the money to charity anyway and her main reason for the action was to clear the slur on her name.  The publicity surrounding the case and its award will have achieved that objective.

Now another interesting case is wending its way through the courts.    In 2011 the Lockyer Valley received flood rains which send a deluge racing through Grantham, sweeping away houses and cars - and killing twelve people.   It was a tragedy which played out on the television news and resulted in a wide ranging enquiry.

The walls of a local quarry collapsed under the volume of water and this caused broadcaster Alan Jones to claim that the quarry owners were responsible for those deaths.  Jones had previously pursued the Wagner brothers on other issues on his radio show and he further claimed that they were guilty of a coverup as well as corruption and intimidation.  The Wagner brothers are suing Jones, journalist Nick Carter , Harbour radio and 4BC for $4.8 million in compensation.

This raises that hoary old chestnut of " honest opinion " as a defence, and that received a setback when Justice Flanagan delivered a warning that such a defence would fail if his alleged defamatory  statements were untrue.  Jones' lawyer has admitted  that some of the claims against the prominent Queensland family could not be defended.

Alan Jones is a controversial broadcaster and one of a fraternity known as " shock jocks ".  Just as lurid headlines spur magazine sales, radio and television ratings are heavily influenced by the nature of the matter being discussed on air - and the more controversial the greater the audience interest.

Many are offended, but few take the dangerous step of going to court and suing for defamation.  Actions in the courts are perilous because litigation costs are impossible to predict, as are the outcomes.  Even when an action is successful there is the inevitability of appeal and once legal process is started it must run to its logical conclusion.   In many cases the cost far outweighs the intrinsic value of the matter being fought over.

These days the courts and the entire legal system is the province of those with very deep pockets. The ultimate disaster for most " ordinary " people is to be accused of a crime and have the need to engage a lawyer to prepare a defence.   The court system automatically applies heavy sentencing discounts for those who enter a guilty plea and many simply throw themselves on the mercy of the court rather than commit their family to penury by mounting a defence.

It seems that the courts are fast becoming a form of entertainment which is best viewed from afar !