John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Zunter

John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd (the publisher) appealed a defamation judgment awarded to Zunter (the plaintiff). The dispute concerned articles published by the publisher which the plaintiff alleged were defamatory. The appeal was heard by the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the publisher had established the defence of statutory qualified privilege, and whether the defence of contextual truth applied. The Court also considered the relevance of the truth of contextual imputations to the assessment of damages.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge's findings. It held that the publisher had not established statutory qualified privilege, as its conduct in publishing the articles was not reasonable in the circumstances. The Court also found that the defence of contextual truth, which requires the truth of surrounding imputations to further injure the plaintiff, was not made out. The Court noted that the "Polly Peck defence" was not recognised at common law in Australia. However, the truth of contextual imputations was considered relevant in mitigation of damages.

The appeal was dismissed, and John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd was ordered to pay Zunter's costs.