Summary: Bauer Media was ordered to pay back Rebel Wilson’s legal fees.
An Australian court ruled that Rebel Wilson would get almost all of her legal fees paid back by Bauer Media. In September, she was awarded millions in a defamation case, and she asked that the publisher also cover her legal fees which were over a million dollars.
The court refused her ask of $1.3 million, but they said that Bauer owed her 80% of her legal costs, making the repayment total to be $1.1 million.
Last year, the Pitch Perfect actress won the highest defamation payout in Australian history, according to The Guardian. Wilson had sued Bauer Media, which publishes tabloids such as Woman’s Day, for portraying her as a liar who had purposely misled people about her real age, name, and background.
The articles in question were published in 2015, and Wilson called them “grubby” and “false.” When Wilson filed her defamation lawsuit, she said that the gossip magazines portrayal of her cost her roles and damaged her reputation.
Bauer Media had argued that the articles were not defamatory. In the series of posts, they had stated that Wilson was actually in her 30s at the time of publication but was portraying herself as younger to make it in Hollywood, amidst other claims.
Justice John Dixon certified that her lawyer, Matthew Collins, was paid $9,000 a day and he also gave his approval of the cost of her bodyguard.
“There was an unusually large public interest in the proceeding,” Dixon said. “It came to my attention during the course of the trial that the plaintiff had been approached in an inappropriate fashion by a member of the public.”
Judge Dixon awarded Wilson a gross sum for her legal fees, and he issued a public statement about his decision.
“First, although a purpose of awarding a gross sum costs order may be to avoid delay and expense, it cannot be assumed that in a particular case, such an assessment will be more time and cost efficient than taxation,” Dixon said.
Wilson’s defamation lawsuit lasted for four weeks in Australia, and Bauer Media said that it plans to file an appeal against the $4.5 million payout that Wilson was awarded.
Wilson’s case was extraordinary because of the amount awarded, and it prompted Bauer Media and other organizations to protest that it could set a dangerous precedent of stifling freedom of the press, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
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