Gary Hevey Gordon & Jackson 9225 8075 9225 7333 ...

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remedies for persons whose reputations are harmed and to promote speedy and
non-litigious methods of resolving disputes 5 .
12. The Act relates to the tort of defamation at general law and does not affect the
operation of the general law except as provided for in the Act 6 .
13. The Act abolishes the distinction between libel and slander 7 . The
importance of this abolition is that the publication of defamatory matter of any
kind is actionable without proof of special damage 8 . Before the Act any action
for slander required proof of special damage by the plaintiff before they could
be compensated by damages.
14. Where there are a number of defamatory matters published at the one time then
only a single action may be brought, even if more than one defamatory
imputation is carried by the matter 9 . This does not mean, for example, that
where different potential defendants publish the same defamation then the
plaintiff is limited to one action.
As many actions are open as there are
publishers. An example of the potential for multiple actions is demonstrated by
the cases of Trkulja v Yahoo! 10 and Trkulja v Google Inc (No 5) 11 . Each of
those matters concern publications on the internet alleging that the plaintiff was
either involved in criminal activities, so involved with crime in Melbourne that
his rivals had hired a hit man to murder him, or that he was such a significant
figure in the Melbourne criminal underworld, that events involving him are
recorded on a Web site that chronicles crime in Melbourne. The plaintiff
5 Section 3
6 Section 6
7 Sub-section 7(1)
8 Sub-section 7(2)
9 Section 8
10 [2012] VSC 88
11 [2012] VSC 533
Gary Hevey
Gordon & Jackson
9225 8075 9225 7333