O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors represents clients who have made defamation claims (sometimes called libel or slander) as well as defending clients who are defendants in defamation claims. In certain circumstances, we can take these cases on a No-Win, No-Fee cost arrangement. Read about some of our defamation case studies below.
NEWS & MEDIA
We represented Terrance Flowers, who goes by his mother’s last name of Kelly on Facebook. He became the subject of mistaken identity when Channel Seven incorrectly identified him as Cleo Smith’s abductor Terence Kelly.
Seven West Media settled the defamation lawsuit brought against it by O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors. It will pay out the man it wrongfully identified in news reports as Cleo Smith’s abductor.
A tabloid paper incorrectly identified our client as someone who violently attacked a group of young girls. The photo, which they took from Facebook, was not of the attacker, but our client.
We represented the man in achieving a successful settlement.
A news outlet ran a story in the nightly news and online saying our clients killed & tortured an animal. They got a stream of hatred from their small local community. We successfully achieved a settlement including payment and an apology.
Oliver got an acquittal in a murder trial. However, a tabloid subsequently labelled him a ‘killer’. He sued and got a settlement and his legal fees. The publisher had to remove any mentions.
John was libelled in an article relating to a company he started, but then subsequently left. After his departure, the company engaged in fraudulent behaviour.
Tabloid magazine pays compensation for suggesting man cheated on his spouse in this Defamation Case. The magazine published an Instagram photo in connection with a celebrity.
A tabloid news company wrote an article about Peter and a family member who had a traumatic accident. However, the publisher used a photo instead of a complete stranger.
The news outlets ran a story regarding the arrest of a Mr. QTX for conspiring to import substantial quantities of drugs into Australia. In that story they had featured images from an old television commercial that discussed QTX’s successful immigration story. This commercial featured images of QTX, but also images of BPS. The story the news outlets ran showed the images of BPS and said that he was QTX. This gave the impression that BPS was the man under arrest for conspiring to import substantial quantities of drugs into Australia
LA, a Public Housing tenant, recently discovered defamatory material published in an Australian newspaper, regarding their alleged unhygienic treatment of the consecutive homes they resided in. We successfully acted for LA in obtaining a settlement between both parties.
YBJ, the Plaintiff, was defamed by a post by Channel 7 and a subsequent comment on the TV channel’s Facebook page. The post and comment wrongly portrayed him as the owner of a furniture shop who acted fraudulently.
Tom* suffered defamation in a national tabloid magazine. The magazine stated he had an ex-marital affair with a reality tv star. This was blatantly false.
A media organisation in NT published several photos of SD on the front page of their newspaper with a headline and article concerning young offenders. Our firm successfully assisted SD in suing the media organisation for defamation and breach of privacy. SD got appropriate compensation.
Aboriginal elder RK sued previous Young Australian of the Year nominee Rebecca Healey and ABC News for making false statements about alleged comments that she made. In fact she had not made the comments at all. The firm successfully proved that RK had never made those comments. As a result she was awarded compensation.
AMQ found that a news report published his photo when the article was about a different person. We assisted AMQ to sue the publisher and arranged a negotiation which resulted in an apology and compensation.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A medical professional suffered defamation in a Google review when a disgruntled patient called them incompetent and unqualified. The professional was in fact qualified and competent, however the patient didn’t agree with their medical opinion.
Shannon* suffered defamation on social media when they were labelled a home-wrecker, amongst other things. They were subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment and defamation resulting in a successful criminal conviction against the person responsible and compensation for the defamation.
OTHER
A financial report from a Commission identified Paul and made allegations that were libellous. Defamation proceedings settled out of court with payment.
This case concerned an appeal by the defendant claiming our client did not validly accept the second offer of amends as put forth by the defendant. Our firm successfully proved that our client’s acceptance of an offer was not a ‘counter offer’ and as a result the appeal was dismissed with costs.
Our client filed a defamation complain against his employer after a report had circulated around the company. The report implied that AJ had committed acts of vandalism. Thus falsely imputing that he was a vandal and criminal. His employer agreed to settle and issued an apology letter.
DEFENCE AGAINST DEFAMATION CLAIMS
In 2004, Rockett attended a variety of events run by a new-age healthcare business, Universal Medicine, headed by Serge Benhayon. A former tennis coach, and now self-styled “complementary medicine practitioner”, Benhayon practiced hands-on “healing” techniques (comparable to a massage). He also taught a variety of new-age religious and philosophical mantras, under the umbrella term of Esoteric Healing. She investigated him and published her findings. Then, he sued her for defamation.
We represented a news publication that was the defendant in a defamation lawsuit. We helped MXM to negotiate an effective settlement which reduced the amount of compensation that the plaintiff asked for at trial.
We advised our client to accept a Concerns Notice after he posted defamatory material of a politician on Facebook. Recent damages awards suggest the defamed persons would get awarded in excess of $100,000 by the Court if the matter proceeded to trial.
