D.G. Certifiers Pty Ltd v Hawksworth

D.G. Certifiers Pty Ltd and another plaintiff brought an action against Hawksworth for defamation. The defendants posted reviews relating to the plaintiffs on various review websites. The second plaintiff was not named in full in any of the reviews, but the plaintiffs argued that they were sufficiently identifiable. The defendants raised several defences, including qualified privilege at common law and under statute, honest opinion, and triviality. The plaintiffs also sought to rely on the grapevine effect in the assessment of damages and claimed aggravated damages due to the defendant’s conduct of litigation.

The court considered whether the reviews amounted to defamation, whether the imputations alleged were made out, and whether the defences were available. The court found that the second plaintiff was not sufficiently identifiable and dismissed the claims on that basis. The court also found that the defence of qualified privilege at common law was not available as the reviews were published to the world at large and were not motivated by express malice. The court found that the defence of statutory qualified privilege was also not available as the publication of the reviews was not reasonable in all the circumstances. The court found that the defence of honest opinion was available as an ordinary, reasonable reader would consider the reviews to be statements of opinion, and the views were honestly held. The court found that the defence of triviality was not available as the defendant did not discharge the onus to show that the plaintiffs were unlikely to suffer harm from the publications.

The court found that the plaintiffs were not entitled to rely on the grapevine effect in the assessment of damages as the reviews were posted online and it was unlikely that readers would tell other people about them. The court found that the plaintiffs were not entitled to aggravated damages as the defendant’s conduct of litigation did not warrant such an award.

The plaintiffs’ claims were dismissed.