Court refuses to grant injunction to stop Four Corners episode from going to air

The Federal Court in Sydney has refused to stop an episode of the ABC current affairs program Four Corners from going to air, after a cosmetic surgeon brought urgent action in an attempt to halt it.

Daniel Lanzer, also a dermatologist, who has clinics in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, brought legal action on October 18 in an attempt to stop the episode about him from being broadcast the following Monday.

Cosmetic surgeon Daniel Lanzer

On Thursday, Justice John Nicholas dismissed the application for an injunction on the basis there was “no prima facie case made out for the relief sought”. He said his provisional view was that Dr Lanzer should pay the ABC’s costs.

Dr Lanzer’s barrister Bruce McClintock, SC, said he would make a written submission about why the costs order should not be made against his client.

In his judgment, Justice Nicholas said Dr Lanzer believed that two of his former employees at Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Services Pty Ltd had breached confidentiality clauses in their contracts by speaking to journalist Adele Ferguson.

The surgeon fears the episode “will cast him in an unfavourable light”, Justice Nicholas said.

Dr Lanzer had sought an injunction to stop the ABC from publishing any information received from the employees that might “impair or reduce the reputation of Dr Lanzer in the eyes of the public or the applicants’ customers” – wording almost identical to the clause in their contracts.

Dr Lanzer is also seeking a final declaration that the ABC participated in breaches of contract by the two former employees.

According to an affidavit filed in court, one of the former employees approached a current employee and said they had been speaking to Four Corners “about what Dr Lanzer has been doing”.

“It’s not safe,” the former employee is alleged to have said. “Something needs to be done about it because if no one steps in, he will do harm.”

The employee allegedly said she was considering showing her face on Four Corners and allegedly requested photos of botched surgeries, a surgery schedule and timesheets to argue that “Dr Lanzer doesn’t pay his staff correctly or pay overtime”.

“Four Corners are also going to discuss what Dr Lanzer does with Medicare, and that he charges incorrectly,” the affidavit claims the former employee said.

In a statement tendered to the court, Dr Lanzer denied the allegations of underpayment and incorrect charging, and offered explanations about unhappy patients who asserted they had experienced poor surgical outcomes.

Justice Nicholas said the two ex-employees had been in contact with the ABC since about July this year, and they “may have provided information to the ABC in breach of their contractual obligations”.

However, he said, “there is no evidence to suggest that either of them is motivated by spite or ill will or that their dealings with Four Corners are motivated by anything more than an intention to expose what they consider to be unsafe or inappropriate practices and behaviour”.

In a court document, Dr Lanzer described being filmed by a camera crew outside his home on September 16 and said he was later told by a neighbour that a Four Corners story about him was going to be broadcast on October 25.

Four days later, Dr Lanzer’s solicitors began corresponding with the ABC.

Justice Nicholas said that, even if he believed Dr Lanzer was able to prove his final case against the ABC, it did not follow that he would be entitled to an injunction now.

“I am not persuaded that damages would not be an adequate remedy in relation to any of the causes of action,” Justice Nicholas said.

In a hearing on Wednesday, the court was shown graphic footage of operations, including one of Dr Lanzer performing a “tummy tuck” in which he was seen slicing open a woman’s abdomen and cutting out the fat.

The case is expected to return to court after the program is aired.

with Kate McClymont

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