Australian Consolidated Press Ltd v Ettingshausen

Australian Consolidated Press Ltd (ACP) appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a judgment of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned allegations of defamation brought by Mr. Ettingshausen, a well-known cricketer, against ACP concerning an article published in *The Bulletin* magazine. The article, published in 1989, contained statements that Mr. Ettingshausen alleged were defamatory, implying he was a homosexual and had engaged in homosexual acts.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the jury's finding of defamation was justified, specifically concerning the meaning of the words published and whether those meanings were defamatory. ACP argued that the words, when read in their proper context, did not bear the defamatory meanings attributed to them by Mr. Ettingshausen and the jury. The court was required to consider the principles of defamation law, including the ordinary reasonable reader test and the concept of imputation.

The Court of Appeal, in its reasoning, examined the article in question and the surrounding circumstances of its publication. It applied the established legal principles for determining the meaning of defamatory words, considering how an ordinary, reasonable reader would have understood the publication. The court found that the jury's verdict was open to them on the evidence presented, and that the meanings found by the jury were capable of being conveyed by the words used in the article. The court upheld the jury's finding that the article was defamatory of Mr. Ettingshausen.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal brought by Australian Consolidated Press Ltd.