Geoffrey Rush: judge finds actor was defamed

Geoffrey Rush has been awarded $850,000 in aggravated damages and could pocket millions.

Geoffrey Rush has been awarded $850,000 in aggravated damages and could pocket millions more for losing movie roles while fighting a defamation case, after a Federal­ Court judge found a claim against the Oscar winner by an actress­ of inappropriate behaviour was not “credible” or “reliable”.

In a colourful judgment, judge Michael Wigney attacked The Daily Telegraph’s “sensationalist” account of harassment claims by actress Eryn Jean Norvill, who he also dismissed as “prone to exaggeration and embellishment”.

Both actors emerged from court yesterday saying there were no winners in the case.

The case was sparked by front-page articles the Sydney paperpublished in late 2017, reporting that Rush was the subject of a complaint of “inappropriate behaviour­” by the young actress during the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Lear.

Rush, 67, denied the allegation, and said the Telegraph’s articles portrayed him as a “sexual predator” and a “pervert’’.

Justice Wigney found yesterday that all of the defamatory imputati­ons claimed by Rush’s lawyers were contained in the articl­es. He also found the newspaper had failed to establish the allegations were true, saying he believed Rush’s account, backed up by his friend director Neil Armfield and two other actors, includin­g Robyn Nevin, and did not accept the alleged victim’s version, which was supported by actor Mark Winter.

Norvill gave evidence during the trial last year that Rush “deliberately” touched her right breast during a King Lear preview, caresse­d her back against her wishes, sent her suggestive text messages and simulated groping her breasts.

Actress Eryn-Jean Norvill, centre, arrives at court with family. Picture: AAP

Outside the court yesterday, Norvill said: “I stand by everything I said. I told the truth and what happened.

“I was there … I would’ve been content to receive a simple ­apology and a promise to do better­, without any of this. I never wanted these issues to be dealt with by a court.”

Norvill, 34, also referred to the “need to make genuine cultural change in our professions and industri­es … It has to be possible for a young woman working in theatre who feels unsafe in her workplace to get that situation fixed.”

She said she was “grateful to (actress) Yael Stone, who had the courage to speak out and lend her voice towards making positive and lasting cultural change a reality­’’.

Stone, star of the Netflix drama Orange is the New Black, recently accused Rush of behaving inappropriately towards her during a touring theatre prod­uction of The Diary of a Madman.

Rush has firmly denied those claims, which were reported by The New York Times and the ABC.

Justice Michael Wigney today.

King Lear actor Winter had also testified that he had witnessed Rush touching Norvill’s left breast, and the “groping” skit.

But Justice Wigney said he was not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the alleged breast touching had occurred. He found Winter’s evidence about the skit “far from convincing”.

The judge described the article­s as “misleading” and “a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism of the worst kind”.

Norvill was the newspaper’s key witness during the trial, and Justice Wigney concluded her evidence was uncorroborated and “at times, prone to exaggeration and embellishment’’.

“I was not ultimately persuaded that Ms Norvill was an entirely credible witness,’’ the judge said.

Instead, he accepted the evidence of Armfield and cast members Nevin and Helen Buday, who said they had not witnessed any inappropriate behaviour by Rush.

The judge also rejected Norvill­’s evidence that Rush had intentionally brushed the skin of her lower back as they waited to go on stage. And he accepted Rush’s claim that a text he sent to Norvill saying he thought of her “more than is socially approp­riate”, was intended as a throw­away line or a joke.

Rush was accompanied to court yesterday by his wife, actress­ Jane Menelaus.

Rush described his experience of the case as “harrowing”.

“There are no winners in this case. It’s been extremely distressing for everyone involved,” he said.

In a statement, The Daily Telegraph’s editor, Ben English, said: “We are disappointed with Justice Wigney’s findings, in particular his dismissal of Eryn Jean ­Norvill’s evidence.

“We disagree with his critic­isms of her and she has our full support. We will now review the judgment.”

A case management hearing on May 10 will determine further compensation for economic losses suffered by Rush.