Author Archives: Justin Castelan

Banker’s sexual harassment and defamation claims demolished: Dye v Commsec [2012] FCA 242

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

From March 2005 until November 2007, Vivienne Dye worked for Commsec. Her position was made redundant, and later, she made a claim to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission that she had been sexually harassed by two senior executives, … Continue reading →

Posted in Trial, Truth | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Google liable for its misleading search results: ACCC v Google Inc [2012] FCAFC 49

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

In terms of defamation, there hasn’t been a case in Australia that considers whether Google Inc in America is a publisher of indexed search results from its search engine. In England, a single judge has concluded that Google is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Publication | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Estate agent wins damages against Alice Spring News: Forrest v Chlanda & Anor [2012] NTSC 14

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

  The plaintiff was a real estate agent in Alice Springs who operated under the name First National Real Estate Framptons. He was also the Southern regional representative of the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. The self-represented defendants … Continue reading →

Posted in Damages, Honest opinion, Qualified privilege, Reciprocal duty-interest, Trial | Tagged | 1 Comment

Cairns belts match-fixing claim out of the ground: Cairns v Modi [2012] EWHC 756 (QB)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by

In 1983 I remember going to the MCG with my father and watching a swashbuckling New Zealand batsman, Lance Cairns, belt 6 sixes all around the biggest ground in the world, off some of the finest fast bowlers in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Damages, Trial, Truth | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Music promoter wins $225,000: Trkulja v Yahoo! Inc LLC & Yahoo! 7 Pty Ltd [2012] VSC 88

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

Michael Trkulja was born in Yugoslavia in 1950. He migrated to Australia at 20 and in the early 1970s, while working in a travel agency business, began promoting singers and entertainers in the Yugoslav community. His work as a music … Continue reading →

Posted in Damages, Publication, Trial | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Electric car case against Top Gear written off: Tesla Motors Ltd v BBC [2012] EWHC 310 (QB)

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

On 14 December 2008, Top Gear broadcast a show that featured an electric car made by the Claimants, a Roadster. Its body was similar to a Lotus Elise, a petrol powered car and the Top Gear episode showed a race … Continue reading →

Posted in Defamatory meaning, imputations, Publication, Strike out application | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Google not liable for blogger.com: Tamiz v Google Inc and Google UK Limited [2012] EWHC 449 (QB)

Posted on March 13, 2012 by

In blogger.com, Google provides a platform on the internet for bloggers all around the world, to write what they want for free.  These blogs now contain more than a trillion words and 250,000 new words are added every minute. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Publication | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Copying the defendant’s imputations – Just not on: Waterhouse v The Age Company Ltd & Ors [2012] NSWSC 9

Posted on March 2, 2012 by

After the usual fight about imputations, the plaintiff’s amended statement of claim alleged that articles from The Age carried the following imputations about him: (a)     the plaintiff procured the murder of George Brown; OR (b)     the plaintiff was an accessory … Continue reading →

Posted in contextual truth, imputations | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Defamation Watch Shop: LVMH Watch & Jewellery Australia Pty Ltd v Lassanah & Ors [2011] NSWCA 370

Posted on February 25, 2012 by

On 10 June 2008, Michael Lassanah and Aaron Oddie entered the Tag Heuer shop in King Street in the centre of Sydney. They went in and looked at some watches and their conduct was perfectly innocent. However, staff in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Qualified privilege, Reciprocal duty-interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hyperlink is not publication in Canada: Crookes v Newton 2011 SCC 47

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

The Full Court of the Canadian Supreme Court recently considered a simple question, but one which will have a profound impact on communications in the common law world: Is a hyperlink a “publication” for the purposes of defamation law? While … Continue reading →

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