âToday Tonightâ program broadcast a segment reporting complaints about the conduct of. Mr Fisher as a school bus driver. On the same day that the program ...
Judgment Summary Supreme Court New South Wales Court of Appeal Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd v Fisher [2015] NSWCA 414 Basten JA, Simpson JA and Tobias AJA The respondent, Brian Stanley Fisher and his wife operated a business known as “Fisher Bus”. In 2008 they acquired a service for rural schoolchildren travelling between Gloucester and Taree. The respondent was the driver. On 6 June 2011 the Channel 7 “Today Tonight” program broadcast a segment reporting complaints about the conduct of Mr Fisher as a school bus driver. On the same day that the program aired on national television, Mr Fisher’s bus driving licence was suspended by the Department of Transport following an investigation into complaints about his conduct which were similar to those the subject of the telecast. Mr Fisher commenced proceedings in the Common Law Division seeking damages for defamation against Channel 7 and its reporter, David Richardson (the appellants). The pleaded imputations fell into two broad categories relating to Mr Fisher’s conduct (i) as a bus driver, broadly alleging that he drove in a dangerous manner and in particular that he was a menace to others, and (ii) in interacting with the schoolchildren on his bus. After the trial the jury found that a number of imputations alleged by Mr Fisher were conveyed and were defamatory; however two of them were found to be true (ie, that Mr Fisher drove his bus in a dangerous manner and that he did so without wearing a seatbelt). The trial judge, Rothman J, rejected Mr Fisher’s claim for damages with respect to his allegations that the telecast led to his bus driver’s licence being suspended, business losses and the breakdown of his marriage. However, the trial judge awarded damages for the harm to Mr Fisher’s reputation in the amount of $125,000. The appellants challenged the assessment of damages as manifestly excessive. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in his assessment of damages by taking into account the contextual imputation pleaded by the appellants and by failing to properly take into account the diminution in Mr Fisher’s reputation by reason of the imputations which were proved true and other facts established by the appellants (in particular that Mr Fisher drove whilst using a mobile phone and with the front door open, unjustifiably banned the children from the bus, left a child at a school which was not his and was far away from home, and threatened a child with violence). The majority (Simpson JA and Tobias AJA) reduced the original damages by 40% awarding Mr Fisher an amount of $75.000.
This summary has been prepared for general information only. It is not intended to be a substitute for the judgment of the Court or to be used in any later consideration of the Court’s judgment.
