Alan Jones defamation case judgment handed down

ALAN Jones ran a “campaign of vilification’’ against the four Toowoomba brothers he accused of being responsible for the deaths of 12 people in the 2011 Grantham floods, a judge has said while ordering the shock jock to pay $3.7 million in damages.

ALAN Jones ran a “campaign of vilification’’ against the four Toowoomba brothers he accused of being responsible for the deaths of 12 people in the 2011 Grantham floods, a judge has said.

Mr Jones was motivated by a desire to injure the reputations of the Wagner brothers, Justice Peter Flanagan said in his 253-page judgment.

The judge said Mr Jones’s conduct was unjustifiable and he had used “intrinsically vicious and spiteful wording’’ in broadcasts about the Wagners.

How Alan Jones vs Wagner case unfolded

Wagner brothers: Alan Jones’ comments ‘abhorrent and vicious’

Mr Jones also was “willfully blind’’ to the truth or falsity of the defamatory accusations he made and he failed to inform the Wagners of his intention to publish his claims or allow them to respond to the allegations.

The brothers were awarded a record total damages payout of $3. 7 million. Mr Jones and radio station 2GB were ordered to pay Denis, John, Neill and Joe Wagner $750,000 each - a total of $3 million - as well as $78,102 in interest. In relation to matters concerning Mr Jones and Brisbane radio station 4BC, the four brothers were awarded $100,000 each - a total of $400,000 - plus $10,643 in interest.

READ THE FULL JUDGEMENT

Here is part of the @SupremeCourtQLD judgement against Alan Jones. Full story on @couriermail website by @KayDibben56 pic.twitter.com/UH1xqQsakg

— Alexandria Utting (@alexutting) September 11, 2018

Denis, John, Neill and Joe Wagner sued Jones, Radio 4BC Brisbane, Jones’s employer Harbour Radio and journalist Nick Cater over comments in 32 radio broadcasts.

Mr Jones, 2GB and 4BC were permanently restrained from publishing or causing to be published any of the matters complained of.

The total $3.4 million in damages, which includes aggravated damages, is an Australian record, after actress Rebel Wilson’s $4.5 million damages award was reduced to $600,000 on appeal.

Each of the Wagner brothers will receive $938,746.

Justice Flanagan dismissed each of the brothers’ claim against Mr Cater.

Justice Flanagan referred to Mr Jones, under cross-examination in the Supreme Court, refusing to resile from his description, in a broadcast, of what happened in the Grantham floods as “municipal murder’’.

Radio broadcaster Alan Jones arriving at the Supreme Court in Brisbane in May. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

“In evidence, Mr Jones repeated his assertion that without the quarry, 12 people would not have died,’’ Justice Flanagan said.

“He referred to this as a self-evident fact.’’

The vicious language of the broadcast, his reference to municipal murder and his refusal to resile from the statements in evidence was compelling evidence of his desire to injure the Wagners’ reputation, the judge said.

Justice Flanagan said Mr Jones, 2GB and 4BC had failed to establish any defence to the defamatory matters published.

Justice Flanagan said there were a number of matters that aggravated the hurt suffered by each of the brothers, which called for a higher award of damages than those made in the Wilson and Rayney defamation cases.

Alan Jones, 2GB and 4BC have been ordered to pay $3.7 million to the Wagner family over broadcasts relating to the 2011 Grantham Floods. @couriermail

— Alexandria Utting (@alexutting) September 11, 2018

“These matters go beyond a mere failure on the part of the defendants to apologise to the plaintiffs or their failed attempts to justify very serious imputations,’’ Justice Flanagan said.

“In Mr Jones’ evidence, he gratuitously attacked the plaintiffs’ reputations and repeated … many defamatory accusations.’’

This included his belief that the plaintiffs were responsible for the deaths of 12 people.

“The repeating of these defamatory imputations by Mr Jones in the course of his evidence makes vindication an important consideration,’’ Justice Flanagan said.

“A substantial award of damages is required to represent a full vindication of the innocence of the plaintiffs and to be sufficient to convince any bystander of the baselessness of the accusations levelled against the plaintiffs.’’

Justice Flanagan said before the defamatory broadcasts, each of the Wagners had an excellent reputation for honesty and integrity in business and in the community.

The publication was extensive and the broadcasts had caused each brother to suffer “profound personal hurt and harm to their reputations’’, including their business reputations.

Justice Flanagan said 2GB and Mr Jones had failed to establish that 57 of the defamatory imputations were substantially true.

Mr Jones and 2GB also failed to defend 10 of the 27 broadcasts as a fair report of the Grantham Floods Inquiry.

Joe, John, Dennis and Neill Wagner speak to the media outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

Justice Flanagan handed down his judgment, after a judge-only trial which began on April 30 and concluded with final submissions in June.

The Wagners claimed there were 76 defamatory imputations in Jones’s broadcasts and in a Sky News show, in 2014 and 2015.

They asked for $4.8 million – $1.2 million each – in defamation damages.

Mr Jones alleged the Wagners caused or were responsible for the deaths of 12 people in the 2011 Grantham floods, because a bund at their quarry collapsed, releasing a torrent of water.

Two commissions of inquiry into the floods did not support that conclusion.

The Wagners run one of Queensland’s largest construction material and mining service businesses and built Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport.

Mr Jones also alleged they built Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba without legal approvals and stole airspace from the Federal Government.

The Wagners also complained that Mr Jones falsely said they had engaged in a high level cover up with politicians over the floods and their airport was approved by corruption involving State and Federal politicians.

During the trial the four brothers gave evidence about the devastating effect of the broadcasts on them personally and the effect on their business.

John Wagner said Mr Jones had insinuated he was a murderer and called him and his brothers crooks.

Jones, who grew up near Toowoomba, took to the witness stand in the third week of the trial, maintaining his belief that the quarry was responsible for flood deaths.

Tom Blackburn, SC, said Alan Jones’s allegations about the Wagners was “a shocking example of an abuse of power”.

Supreme Court of QLD found that Wagner brothers have succeeded in their defamation claim against Alan Jones, 2GB, and 4BC . Awarded a total of $3.754m. Read summary and judgment here, https://t.co/zze75fWRnn

— Supreme Court of QLD (@SupremeCourtQLD) September 11, 2018

He said any defamation award must be sufficient to convince Mr Jones’s devoted followers that the allegations were absolutely baseless.

The case was defended on the basis of substantial truth, honest opinion and fair reporting.

Just before the start of the trial Mr Jones dropped the truth defence in relation to allegations of a high level cover-up with politicians.

Rob Anderson, QC, for the defendants, told the judge, at the end of the trial, that they had abandoned the defence of honest opinion, and were relying on substantial truth.

Mr Anderson said not all the defamatory meanings could be defended, but damages of $1.2 million each would be manifestly excessive.

In September last year, actress Rebel Wilson was awarded a record Australian defamation damages payout of $4.56 million, including $650,000 in general damages and $3.97 million in special damages, after suing Bauer Media over a series of defamatory Woman’s Day articles.

After an appeal, the general damages were reduced in June to $600,000 and the judge set aside the $3.97 million for economic losses.

Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney in December last year was awarded $2.62 million, including $1.25 million for lost income, after being defamed when police named him as the “prime’’ and “only” suspect in the murder of his wife.

An aerial view of Wagner's Quarry in the Lockyer Valley.

Mr Rayney was found not guilty of her murder at a 2012 trial, a verdict upheld on appeal.

Two of the brothers, Denis and John Wagner, were at court for the decision, along with their father Henry Wagner and sister Kate Greer and other family members.