TEN appeals Molloy defamation verdict

TEN is appealing a ruling in a defamation case involving comedian Mick Molloy and former ALP candidate Nicole Cornes.

Cornes, who is married to former Adelaide Crows AFL coach Graham Cornes, won $93,000 last year when the South Australian Supreme Court found she was defamed by comments during Before the Game.

A joke by Molloy insinuated she had slept with a former AFL player.

TEN’s lawyers are arguing that the trial judge erred in intellectualising a passing comment, not meant to be taken literally but within the show’s humorous context.

“The words were only defamatory by way of innuendo,” Mr Dick Whitington said.

He said the ordinary person would not approach the matter the way a lawyer would, and if there was a “factual sting” in Molloy’s statement, it would not have been humorous.

The hearing continues.

Source: news.com.au