{"id":1118,"date":"2022-07-06T14:45:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T04:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abkj.com.au\/articles\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2022-07-06T14:58:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T04:58:33","slug":"defamation-and-body-corporates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abkj.com.au\/articles\/defamation-and-body-corporates\/","title":{"rendered":"Defamation and Body Corporates"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is quite common for us to be consulted regarding disputes<\/a> involving defamation in a body corporate context. The ingredients for conflict that are present in community title schemes – strangers living together in close proximity, the sharing of facilities, members of the body corporate having different priorities in respect of the management of the body corporate, competition for committee positions, and so on – coupled with the ease of communication facilitated by email and social media, create an environment conducive to the publishing of insulting, and even defamatory, comments.<\/p>\n

Many people may be of the view that defamation is not relevant to life in a community title scheme and only arises in the context of high profile individuals and mass publication of defamatory statements, such as in newspapers. However, that is not the case.<\/p>\n

Defamation Explained<\/h2>\n

In Queensland, the law relating to defamation arises from a combination of the general law and the Defamation Act 2005.<\/p>\n

Put simply, a cause of action in defamation will arise where someone makes a statement that is defamatory about someone else, and publishes that statement.<\/p>\n

A statement will be defamatory if the person\u2019s reputation has been damaged or could reasonably be considered at risk of damage by the statement.<\/p>\n

The threshold of what amounts to publishing is quite low \u2013 merely making the statement to a third party amounts to publication. Publication can take the form of (without limitation), online media, w<\/span>ritings, d<\/span>rawings and s<\/span>peech.<\/span><\/p>\n

Damages<\/h2>\n

Where a claim of defamation succeeds, the aggrieved party may receive damages as determined by the Court. The damages must bear an appropriate and rational relationship to the harm sustained by the aggrieved party. Whilst many factors are relevant to the assessment of damages, broadly speaking the Court will look to impose a sum of damages that reflects:<\/p>\n