Qld: Appeals court overturns jury decision on judge

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2000
Qld: Appeals court overturns jury decision on judge

The Queensland Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge was defamed by a newspaper which
mixed up his name with another judge's.

The ruling overturns the original jury decision.

In August last year a Supreme Court civil jury in Brisbane found that Southport District
Court Judge ROBERT DAVID HALL had failed in his attempt to claim that The Courier Mail
newspaper defamed him when it mistakenly got another judge's name wrong.

The mistake occurred in an article published in The Courier Mail on May 26, 1997.

The article refers to Judge CLIVE HALL, and thereafter to Judge HALL, when reporting
comments made during the criminal trial of a child molester in Townsville, far north Queensland.

The Courier Mail admitted that the judge who made the comments was Townsville District
Court Judge CLIVE WALL, QC.

The newspaper published a clarification stating that fact two days later on May 28, 1997.

Today the Court of Appeal overturned the jury's decision finding that Judge HALL had
been defamed and that a new trial should go to how much he should be awarded in damages.

AAP RTV smk/jhm/nf/dmc

KEYWORD: HALL (BRISBANE)

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