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Defamation Case: How To Defend a Defamation Action?

Australian Defamation Lawyers, Blog & Articles, Commercial Disputes, Defamation and dispute, Defamation Law; Defamation Perth; Litigation, Tang Legal, 文章和出版物

The Story

Mr Wright, a shareholder of a company, had been served with a writ alleging he had defamed a company and its managing director in an online shareholder’s forum.

Mr Wright had been advised by the solicitors acting for the company and managing director that the damages could be in the vicinity of $80,000.

Solution

We were instructed by Mr Wright to defend the action and filed a statement of defense raising grounds of honest opinion amongst other defenses. 

Upon investigating further, we discovered the company had more than 10 employees and was therefore ineligible under the Defamation Act to commence a cause of action for defamation in Western Australia. 

 

Outcome

 

We advised the company and the managing director’s solicitors that we would file a notice to strike out the company’s claim against Mr Wright.

 

 

Whilst the managing director was still eligible to continue with the defamation action against Mr Wright, his solicitors agreed to discontinue the company’s claim and settle the managing director’s claim against Mr Wright for $10,000 plus a notice of retraction from the company to Mr Wright.