Newspaper loses appeal, Geoffrey Rush wins $2.9m
Court finds in favour of Geoffrey Rush, ending long-running defamation case.
- Published by David Knox
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Nationwide News has lost an appeal against Geoffrey Rush, awarding the actor a record $2.9m defamation payout.
The Federal Court of Australia agreed with the original ruling that the Daily Telegraph’s publications conveyed the imputation that Rush was a “pervert”.
Justices Jacqueline Gleeson, Richard White, Michael Wheelahan rejected all grounds of appeal for the newspaper, including for a retrial, that costs be reduced and that it defamed Rush.
The 2017 stories alleged Rush behaved inappropriately towards Eryn Jean Norvill, his co-star in the Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear.
He denied the claims.
The appeal court also rejected all of the Telegraph’s arguments that the primary judge had overestimated how much work Rush would have lost as a result of the articles and the emotional impact of the defamatory claims.
This brings to a close a long-running and public case for Geoffrey Rush, who will be awarded the full $2.9m in damages –the largest defamation payout to a single person in Australian history. The payout includes $850,000 in general and aggravated damages, $1.9 million for past and future economic loss, and $42,000 in interest.
This post updates.
Source: The Guardian, ABC
8 Responses
Great outcome for Rush but, knowing what they know now, would the Nationwide News do exactly the same thing again given the same circumstances?
Have they learned anything about the consequences of destroying reputations?
he was innocent from the start me too is to ruin innocent men and its wreaked his career for nothing he should have got $20 million and a full page apology from the paper and the girl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good but not enough it could have possibly ruined his carrier I would like to see poor Patti and Bert go after no idea and woman’s day for the BS they publish about them
That newspaper really must have hated him to do something like that. That newspaper has a lot to answer for.
He certainly would have been earning more than that per movie at the time.
So is this finally the end of this saga? No further avenues open? Let’s hope so
No amount of money compensates for what he has had to live through the past years
The headlines were quite terrible. Guilty before proven innocent