Rebel Wilson awarded record $4.5 million in defamation damages — here’s why

REBEL Wilson has been awarded the biggest payout in Australian history — $4.5 million in defamation damages. Here’s why.

Rebel Wilson claimed defamatory articles published by Bauer Media made her out to be a serial liar, costing her roles in Hollywood and tarnishing her reputation. Photo: AAP Image/ David Crosling

REBEL Wilson has just been awarded Australia’s highest-ever defamation payout, after successfully suing Bauer Media over a series of defamatory articles.

In a stunning decision, a Supreme Court judge claimed the extent of Wilson’s defamation was “unprecedented” and warranted substantial damages — to the tune of more than $4.5 million — after the jury found articles published in Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, New Weekly and OK! unfairly painted her as a serial liar who’d faked her way to Hollywood.

Today was the end of a long and hard court battle against Bauer Media who viciously tried to take me down with a series of false articles.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

He said the nature of the aggravated defamation and the unprecedented extent of dissemination makes vindication of particular importance.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

The judge said he knew that the info from anonymous paid source was false.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

Justice Dixon has awarded me a record sum and I’m extremely grateful for that. It is 4 times the Australian record.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

I’m looking forward to helping out some great Australian charities and supporting the Oz film industry with the damages I’ve received.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

Also looking forward to getting back to my career and entertaining everyone! 😊

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

It’s a huge financial blow to Bauer — especially considering lawyers for the Pitch Perfect star claim that before the trial, she had offered to settle for $200,000.

But now they’re paying more than twenty times that sum in an extraordinary Australian legal first. Why?

According to Peter Coggins from Shine Lawyers, it all comes down to Wilson’s celebrity status.

“We haven’t really had such a high-profile candidate run a defamation claim all the way to a trial like this — traditionally in Australia, defamation awards have been quite low, or often they’re settled out of court,” he explained.

“This case had a high-profile plaintiff — and it had a defendant in Bauer Media that really dug its heels in right until the very end — they took the risk and came out on the wrong side.”

In the judge’s ruling, it was pointed out that Bauer Media had deliberately capitalised on the much-hyped release of Pitch Perfect 2.

“They were essentially riding on the back of her success, and the frenzy that was with that movie then extended to these articles.

“The judge made a lot of comment about that — particularly in terms of their maliciousness.”

While Wilson had originally said she’d missed out on specific roles (Trolls and Kung Fu Panda) as a result of the defamation, she walked away from that claim before the trial and developed a “trajectory” argument — meaning she figured out how much work she’d lost based on how her career had been tracking before it nosedived.

“Her career was going up and up, and she got to Pitch Perfect 2, and then after that she expected she’d get roles that would pay her in the range of $5-6 million,” Coggins said.

“But they didn’t come in, and she was able to convince the judge that that was tied to those defamatory articles.”

He added: “It’s a very difficult threshold for the plaintiff to draw those links between the publication and the career.”

Another factor that worked against Bauer Media was the judge’s rejection of its claim that what was published in their Australian magazines would have had no bearing on her US-based career.

“The judge rejected that, word got out about this in the United States, and they were published on the internet so word did get out over there,” Coggins said.

To me though, this case wasn’t about the money.

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

So what impact will this have on future celebrity defamation cases?

“It will probably set a precedent for more high-profile cases settling out of court, because most major publishers will not want to go down this road ... they will want to settle.”

The actor has previously claimed any money awarded by the court would be donated to charity or the Australian film industry.

Thank you again for the love and support! I am humbled x

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) September 13, 2017

A huge legal victory for Rebel. Photo: AAP Image/ David Crosling