Defamation
Next Entries »Osmose part-settled
Thursday, February 14th, 2008You might remember that the Osmose defamation case in the High Court appeared to revolutionise the defence of qualified privilege: opening it up to all stories about matters of public interest, not just those about politicians, and making it easier for journalists to show they’d acted responsibly (a condition of the defence). The case was […]
Tribute to John Burrows
Thursday, February 7th, 2008The University of Canterbury’s law school held a conference in honour of John Burrows last weekend. It was called “Law, Liberty and Legislation” and covered the broad sweep of issues that Professor Burrows has expertise in – from statute and contract law to media law (he’s written the leading texts in all three). On the […]
Canada moves toward expanded libel defence
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008Canada is finally jumping on the US, UK, Australian, South African and NZ bandwagon and providing protection to political (and other public-interest) speech against defamation actions. The Ontario Court of Appeal has created a Reynolds-type privilege for “responsible journalism”. (It’s all obiter, though, and the Canadian Supreme Court has yet to confirm the new direction). […]
Did the Minister of Commerce defame Green Acres?
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008On Summer Report this morning, the chief executive of ironing franchise Green Acres accused Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel of defaming his company. He said she told a bunch of scammed investors that Green Acres was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. In fact, he said, it was the fraudulent franchisee who was under investigation, […]
This would be the most fascinating defamation case ever…
Monday, December 10th, 2007In her book and in media interviews, Louise Nicholas calls Clint Rickards a rapist. He calls her a liar who needs help. If one of them were to sue the other for defamation, it would be a hell of a bunfight. The criminal case hasn’t put these issues to bed. A defamation lawsuit would be […]
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