Rebel’s fury over ruling
REBEL Wilson claims she will be left out of pocket despite claiming victory in an epic defamation fight against Bauer Media.
The Hollywood actress took to Twitter to complain that despite the win she wouldn’t make a dollar after the Court of Appeal set aside a compensation order valued at more than $4 million.
“It means I now lose money when all my costs are paid when I was the victim of clearcut malicious defamation, and a jury ruled in my favor on every single point 47-0. It’s extremely unfair and the Court of Appeal made the wrong decision here,” she said.
“I am trying my hardest and was going to do the right thing with the money by giving it to charity. Now it goes back to a guilty billionaire-owned company.
“Yes I was giving any ‘winnings’ to charity. So it’s such a shame that now over $4 mil goes back to a billionaire corporation found GUILTY of malicious defamation and not to worthy Australians (sic).”
Wilson won the biggest defamation payout in Australian history last year after taking Bauer to court over a string of articles she said destroyed her reputation.
She was awarded a record $650,000 in general damages and $3,917,472 in special damages for economic loss.
The payout prompted an immediate appeal by Bauer that was upheld by the Court of Appeal, that set aside the award for economic loss finding it had been wrongly awarded.
The court agreed with Bauer that trial judge Justice John Dixon had made an error when he ordered Wilson be compensated for losing film roles. Wilson claimed she was sacked from two films — Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3 — and unable to land any more work due to the articles.
But the Court of Appeal found she failed to properly establish that she had suffered economic damages by losing movie roles.
It also reduced the general damages amount by $50,000 leaving Wilson with a total payout of just $600,000, still above the $389,000 cap for damages of that kind.
Last week the court ordered Wilson repay $4 million in special damages paid to her, plus a further $60,000 in interest.
Wilson was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of the costs incurred by Bauer Media to run its successful appeal.