News

Geoffrey Rush Awarded Record Amount Of Damages In Defamation Case

Australian actor Geoffrey Rush has been awarded a record amount of damages by an appeals court for being defamed by two publications.

In 2019, he was awarded the largest defamation payment to a single person in Australia after a court found the Daily Telegraph guilty of defaming Rush by accusing him of inappropriate behavior towards a co-star. 

In 2017, the Telegraph published an article titled ‘King Leer’ which reported that the Sydney Theatre Company had received an anonymous complaint against Rush. The article added that this complaint simply added to Rush’s pattern of inappropriate behavior.

After the article was published, Rush sued the newspaper and the article’s author Jonathon Moran. The story was also originally written without the involvement of the alleged victim who was later revealed as Rush’s King Lear co-star Eryn Norvill.

The News Corp.-owned publisher Nationwide News was originally ordered to pay Rush at least A$850,000 in damages. Although Rush was originally seeking A$25 million in damages, earlier this week the appeals court judges ruled for Rush to be awarded A$2.9 million ($2 million) in damages by the company.

The court judges rejected the publisher’s grounds for appeal in total which included asking for a retrial, a reduction in costs as well as a ruling that the paper never defamed Rush. The court also denounced the Telegraph’s remark that the damages were “manifestly excessive.”

Hannah Mallard

Recent Posts

After Fans Mock Her, ‘Real Housewives’ Star Teresa Giudice Dissolves Her Lip Fillers – On TikTok

Teresa Giudice took to TikTok on Friday to address fan comments about her lips, revealing…

12 hours ago

‘Dawson’s Creek’ Star James Van Der Beek Reveals He’s Fighting Colorectal Cancer

James Van Der Beek, best known for his role on Dawson's Creek, has revealed his…

12 hours ago

Jason Kelce Smashes Fan’s Phone After Homophobic Slur About Brother Travis & Taylor Swift’s Relationship

Jason Kelce’s appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay took an unexpected turn when a fan made a homophobic…

15 hours ago

Liam Payne Reportedly Overdosed Before His Death As His Management Pressured Him To Host TV Show

Liam Payne overdosed on drugs and had to be resuscitated prior to his tragic death.…

17 hours ago

Johnny Depp’s Lawyer, Camille Vasquez, Denies Dating Rumors: ‘Never Would Date Him’

Camille Vasquez, who represented Johnny Depp in his high-profile defamation case against Amber Heard, has…

17 hours ago

VIDEO: Woman Airlifted To Safety During Rescue Operations In Flooded Valencia

https://youtu.be/efEU5htp5i4 Emergency services in Valencia, Spain, were working “24 hours a day” to rescue people…

19 hours ago