C8 Tort law AOS3

Question 1

Defamation

Answer 1

A type of tort that involves the action of damaging a person’s personal or professional reputation in the community through the communication of false and untrue statements or information.

Question 2

List the rights protected by the law of defamation

Answer 2

Aims to protect the character and reputation of individuals against attempts to discredit them, protects the right to have your reputation protected by placing limits on freedom of expression (right to reputation);

Question 3

List the elements required to prove liability for defamation

Answer 3

The statement is defamatory, the statement is untrue, the statement refers to the plaintiff, the statement has been published by the defendant;

Question 4

Justification

Answer 4

The justification defence requires the defendant to show that all of the plaintiff’s alleged insinuations are “substantially true” in substance and in fact.

Question 5

Contextual truth

Answer 5

When defamatory statements are made within the same context as statements that are substantially true, but the defamatory statements do not further harm the reputation of the plaintiff.

Question 6

Absolute privilege

Answer 6

Provides complete immunity from being sued in certain cases if they can prove that the defamatory statement was published in relation to proceedings of parliament, parliament bodies, courts, or tribunals.

Question 7

Publication of documents

Answer 7

If the published defamatory statement was a fair copy, summary, or extract of a public document, published in the public’s interest for educational purposes it can excuse a defendant from being sued.

Question 8

Fair report of proceedings of public concern

Answer 8

The defendant can argue this defence if the statement is a fair report of proceedings and that the report was published for the public’s information or for educational purposes.

Question 9

Qualified privilege

Answer 9

A defence that protects a person who has no intention of publishing damaging information but who published it for good reasons. In some circumstances, the public interest requires a person to be able to make frank and uninhibited communication to a recipient without the fear of being held liable for defamation, even if it turns out that the statements are incorrect.

Question 10

Honest opinion

Answer 10

A defendant may claim that the defamatory material is an expression of their honest opinion rather than a statement of fact.

Question 11

Triviality

Answer 11

Applies where the publisher can show that the plaintiff is unlikely to be harmed by the publication of the defamatory material.

Question 12

Innocent dissemination

Answer 12

Protects people who may unknowingly distribute defamatory information (e.g. printing companies, booksellers, libraries etc).

Question 13

Public document

Answer 13

One readily available from a parliamentary body, court, tribunal, local government, or statutory authority.

Question 14

Proceedings of public concern

Answer 14

Those involving a parliamentary body, local government, court, or tribunal as their procedures are usually open to public scrutiny or government inquiries, law reform bodies, and the ombudsman.

Question 15

Ombudsman

Answer 15

An officeholder with the power to investigate and report on complaints relating to administrative action taken by government departments and other authorities.

Question 16

Impact of defamation on the plaintiff

Answer 16

Loss of reputation, emotional impact of defamatory material, and loss of wages and livelihood;

Question 17

Impact of defamation on the defendant

Answer 17

Costs, need to sell assets, and public humiliation;