Kara Taylor lost Facebook defamation case, brought by Aussie Helpers, after her defence was struck out

A woman who took to Facebook to falsely claim the operators of a drought charity were embezzling upwards of $15m has had her defence struck out of court.

A woman who published a series of inflammatory posts on Facebook about a Charleville charity dedicated to helping farmers in drought has had her defence struck out, with a judge to decide if she will be required to pay a financial penalty.

On March 31 the District Court of Queensland found Kara Taylor had defamed Aussies Helpers founder Nerida Egan and her daughter Samantha Price, who served as the charities CEO in a series of Facebook comments posted in 2018.

Ms Egan’s husband Brian Egan was also listed as a plaintiff but passed away in 2020

In a ruling handed down on May 16, Judge David Kent KC found Taylor’s earlier pleas should be struck out because they contained a series of “fatal defects”.

Members of the Toowoomba and District Masonic Council Jack Wright, Max Wilkins, Neil Mark, John Della, Dave Walters and Toby Brown present Aussie Helpers Sam Price with $6000 from their fundraising in 2014. Photo: Ali Kuchel.

He also noted Taylor, who was self-represented, did not appear for the March 31 hearing, or when the matter was set down for a directions hearing on March 27.

Judge Kent found Taylor did not have leave to replead.

“The plaintiffs also point to the fact that after four attempts the defendant has not produced an appropriate pleading,” he said.

“The material dealing with the issue of service indicates that the defendant is avoiding any participation in the proceeding.”

Nerida and Brian Egan from Aussie Helpers. They have won a defamation case against Kara Taylor over harmful Facebook comments made in 2018. Sadly, Brian died before the matter was resolved.

The court heard Taylor made a series of false and defaming claims on Facebook between August 12 and September 9, 2018.

They included false allegation that plaintiffs used money donated to Aussie Helper to buy residential property for their own personal use, that the cheated the family of a dead woman out of $1m, that police were investigating them for fraud, that they deliberately failed to lodge tax returns for 17 years, to conceal taxable income and that they structured the charity so they could walk away with $10-15m when the drought ended.

Judge Kent found that the comments were defamatory and that they were capable of “causing serious harm to the plaintiffs’ reputations in the eyes of reasonable members of the community.”

He further concluded that the matter should proceed to a summary judgment on liability at a date to be set.

Aussies Helpers was contacted for comment.