Drew Creighton - June 20 2016
A Queensland woman whose
ex-husband posted a vicious attack about her on Facebook has won $10,000 in
court.
Bowen woman June Marion Kelly was
seeking $150,000 in damages after a post was published on Facebook by her
former husband David Levick, stating that she, among other things,
"commits criminal offences".
A South African man has been sued
for defamation over a Facebook post.
A South African man has been sued
for defamation over a Facebook post.
"June turned out to be a
thieving, lying, money crazed bitch who screwed me out of nearly 3 million rand
– may she rot in Hell," Mr Levick wrote in a post on his Facebook page in
November 2014.
Magistrate Simon Young said Mr
Levick's post happened in the context of years of a bitter divorce and property
settlement in South Africa with Ms Kelly.
Ms Kelly's issue with the post was
it stated she was a "thief" and suffered from a mental disorder.Mr Levick tried to defend his case, disputing his liability for the words and whether the case was even in the court's jurisdiction.
He argued the post was meant to be
private but was inadvertently published to the public.
Citing a long-standing ruling, Mr
Young deemed it not a sufficient defence. "… Liability depends upon mere
communication of the defamatory matter to a third person. The communication may
be quite unintentional …" the ruling read.
Mr Levick then tried to argue there
was no evidence the post had been "downloaded" in Queensland as he
had published it from South Africa.
This was also not accepted as Mr
Levick introduced the idea after the pleadings and was ruled in favour of Ms
Kelly.
In his final defence Mr Levick
raised whether the words implied what Ms Kelly had taken from it and whether it
was even directed at her in the first place.
The magistrate said it was clear
the post was directed at June Kelly.
Mr Levick had also published an
apology to Ms Kelly regarding the post at a later date on Facebook, leaving no
question as to whom the post was intended.
When it came to the decision on how
much to award Ms Kelly, Mr Young consulted previous cases including one in
which a builder was awarded $50,000 for having his reputation damaged in his
community.
"Damages for injured feelings
are often the largest single (but not only) consideration in awarding
damages," Mr Young said, awarding Ms Kelly $10,000 with interest to the
date of the judgment at the rate of 4 per cent, totalling $10,784.74. Victor Cominos
This
story has been brought to you by the Emerald Chamber of Commerce Inc.
(Ph: 07 4982 3444)
(Ph: 07 4982 3444)
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