Rebel Wilson has criticised the coalition of Australian media organisations planning to appeal the amount of damages she was awarded for her successful defamation claim against Bauer Media, saying they are acting “all in the name of corporate greed.”
ABC, Fairfax Media, News Corp, Seven, Nine, and Macquarie Media last month voiced their intention to help Bauer Media appeal the unprecedented $4.5 million in damages awarded to Wilson, after she successfully argued the magazine conglomerate defamed her in a series of articles in 2015.
The legal challenge will argue that Wilson was awarded damages so far above and beyond standard protocol that other media outlets may refrain from publishing vital public interest journalism for fear of similarly huge defamation claim payouts, fair or not.
Yesterday, the ABC also quoted Wilson’s barrister Renee Enbom, who said Wilson’s legal team and Bauer Media’s lawyers were deliberating on whether she is entitled to a further $1.1 million or $1.3 million in legal costs on top of the $4.5 million sum.
In turn, Wilson took to Twitter, saying the costs were already awarded to her in the 2017 judgment and are not a new matter. From there, she delved into the upcoming appeal, and asked why media organisations felt the need to aid “a trashy tabloid company owned by German billionaires, proven guilty of malicious defamation”.
What reputable Australian journalist or media organization, (*cough* hello, ABC who is funded by taxpayers *cough*) would stand with ‘journalists’ who have been proven guilty of making up rubbish stories and printing them knowing they are fake, all in the name of corporate greed.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) March 8, 2018
Wilson also accused the coalition of colluding to twist the story and presenting her case in a misleading way.
There is clear media collusion and they are now twisting what was a very simple story. Here’s the story: last year, I won a very public defamation case against Australia’s biggest tabloid producers @bauermedia . I won on all aspects of the case, and won a record amount of damages
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) March 8, 2018
They have employed a PR firm and are colluding with every major Australian media organization (except for Ch 10 *smile face*) on misreporting and spinning their brute behavior. The truth is, this is a ONE DAY (two day max.) hearing in Supreme Court about technicalities of the law
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) March 8, 2018
It will be very DRY!!!! Most interesting to a handful of defamation lawyers only…or to those in the shadows who know that they often publish rubbish and want to continue to get away with this for as long and as cheaply as possible.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) March 8, 2018
This afternoon, Wilson also responded to a Channel 7 report saying the push for Bauer Media to pay her legal costs was a new development.
https://twitter.com/RebelWilson/status/971928771140796416
The Victorian Court of Appeal will hear this one out on April 18.
