A NSW man who used his own website to make allegations of corruption and bribery against a local councillor has been ordered to pay $80,000 in damages for defamation.
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In a case that serves as a cautionary tale for self-publishers, Supreme Court justice Lucy McCallum also granted a permanent injunction to restrain Bungendore man Allan Powell from publishing the "irrational allegations" against Palerang Shire councillor Richard Graham in the future.
Mr Powell, a former solicitor and bookshop owner, accused Mr Graham of corruption, bribery, fraud and incompetence in a series of eight articles published on his own websites, as well as in an email sent to councillors and mass media outlets.
The court heard that Mr Powell had boasted one of his websites had received 243,958 hits by May last year, but Justice McCallum said the real figure was "probably considerably more limited".
Among the most serious allegations made by Mr Powell was that Mr Graham had defrauded at least $60,000 from the City to Soil program, which was set up to encourage local residents to recycle green waste for composting.
Mr Powell referred his claims to the police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption, as well as bringing a private criminal prosecution against Mr Graham and another person.
The criminal charges were dismissed by Queanbeyan Local Court in February and the ICAC declined to investigate the matter, saying that Mr Powell's allegations were "speculative and unsubstantiated".
Mr Graham retained experienced defamation barrister Matthew Richardson and sued Mr Powell for defamation in the NSW Supreme Court.
The court found that the publications conveyed a range of meanings, including that Mr Graham was a "shyster" and a "disgusting parasite" who ripped off local residents.
Mr Powell, who represented himself, attempted to defend the case on the basis that the allegations were true.
But his written defences, which Justice McCallum noted were "drawn by Mr Powell himself without the benefit of legal advice", were struck out last year.
Justice McCallum said in a preliminary judgment in December last year that "the nature and complexity of the proceedings is such that he plainly requires assistance settling the terms of the defence" and referred Mr Powell to the court's pro bono panel.
But he did not file an amended defence and did not appear in court again.
Justice Robert Beech-Jones entered a default judgment - a judgment where there has not been a full hearing - against Mr Powell in March.
In September, Justice McCallum assessed damages at $80,000. This included an amount for aggravated damages, which took into account Mr Powell's failure to apologise and the "sensational and extreme" language used by him.
Justice McCallum said she accepted that Mr Graham had "been absolutely devastated by the persistence, viciousness and irrationality of Mr Powell's defamatory publications against him".
"The events I have recited have persuaded me that, unless restrained, Mr Powell will persist in his irrational allegations against Mr Graham, notwithstanding the rejection of those allegations by ICAC, the NSW Police and a magistrate and notwithstanding Mr Powell's failure to defend the present action," Justice McCallum said.
She ordered Mr Powell be permanently restrained from publishing the same or similar allegations in the future.
Defamation cases against amateur publishers are not new, but the rise of internet and mobile technology has made it easier for people to publish defamatory content to a wider audience.
