The Age Company Ltd and Ors v Liu and Anor

The Age Company Ltd and Ors appealed to the High Court of Australia against a judgment of the Full Federal Court which had upheld a finding of defamation against them. The appellants, publishers of *The Age* newspaper, were found to have defamed the respondents, Mr. and Mrs. Liu, through the publication of an article concerning allegations of fraud and corruption in relation to a property development project. The respondents had sued for damages for defamation.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Full Federal Court had erred in upholding the primary judge's finding that the article conveyed defamatory imputations concerning the respondents. Specifically, the appeal concerned the proper construction of the defamatory meaning of the published material and whether the defence of contextual truth was available to the appellants.

The High Court held that the Full Federal Court had correctly identified the defamatory imputations conveyed by the article. Their Honours reasoned that the primary judge had not made an error of law in construing the meaning of the words published, nor had the Full Federal Court erred in upholding that construction. The Court further found that the defence of contextual truth was not available because the imputations found to be defamatory were not substantially true, and therefore the defence could not operate to negate liability.

The High Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the decision of the Full Federal Court.