Grattan v Porter

The case of Grattan v Porter involved a defamation claim brought by the plaintiff against the defendant. The defendant had made several phone calls to the plaintiff's children's school, during which she allegedly made defamatory statements about the plaintiff. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The plaintiff sought damages for the harm caused by the defamatory statements and an injunction to prevent further publication of the defamatory material.

The legal issues before the court included whether the defendant's phone calls to the school employees constituted a publication of defamatory material about the plaintiff. The court also had to determine whether the defendant had established any of the defences available to her, including the defence of truth and the statutory defence of honest opinion. Additionally, the court considered whether the defendant's motivation in making the phone calls was actual malice, which would entitle the plaintiff to aggravated damages.

In its judgment, the court found that the defendant's phone calls to the school employees did indeed constitute a publication of defamatory material about the plaintiff. The court rejected the defendant's defence of truth, finding that the statements made were false. The court also found that the statutory defence of honest opinion was not available to the defendant, as she had not genuinely held the opinion that the plaintiff was a paedophile. Furthermore, the court accepted that the defendant's motivation in making the phone calls was actual malice, which entitled the plaintiff to aggravated damages. The court awarded the plaintiff $160,903.42 in damages, including interest up to the date of judgment. The court also granted an injunction restraining the defendant from publishing or causing to be published any similar imputations about the plaintiff. Finally, the court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff's costs on the indemnity basis, excluding certain reserved costs.