SAFFRON v JOHN FAIRFAX PUBLICATIONS PTY LTD [2004] NSWCA 254

SAFFRON v JOHN FAIRFAX PUBLICATIONS PTY LTD [2004] NSWCA 254

Leave to appeal was refused because, reading the article as a whole and having regard to the references suggesting the reputation was undeserved, media-created or historical, it was open to the jury to conclude that the imputation that the plaintiff had an unsavoury reputation was not defamatory; the jury's answer was not irrational and was not one that no reasonable jury could have made.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
20 July 2004
Procedural Posture
Defamation / Application for Leave to Appeal From a Jury Decision in a S 7 A(3) Defamation Act 1974 Trial
Outcome
Application dismissed with costs.
Legal Topics
['defamatory Imputation' 'jury Verdict' 'appellate Intervention' 'leave to Appeal']
['defamation' 'civil Procedure'] ['defamatory Imputation' 'jury Verdict' 'appellate Intervention' 'leave to Appeal']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Defamation / Application for Leave to Appeal From a Jury Decision in a S 7 A(3) Defamation Act 1974 Trial

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the jury acted perversely or irrationally in finding that the imputation that the plaintiff had an unsavoury reputation was not defamatory.' 'Whether leave to appeal should be granted from the jury determination under s 7A of the Defamation Act 1974.']

Ratio Decidendi

Leave to appeal was refused because, reading the article as a whole and having regard to the references suggesting the reputation was undeserved, media-created or historical, it was open to the jury to conclude that the imputation that the plaintiff had an unsavoury reputation was not defamatory; the jury's answer was not irrational and was not one that no reasonable jury could have made.

Court Disposition

Application dismissed with costs.

Orders

  • ['The application is dismissed with costs.']