Businesswoman awarded defamation damages

A successful businesswoman mocked in Australia's leading financial daily as being "a gaping moron" has won her defamation case in the Federal Court.

Venture capitalist and former director of Blue Sky Alternative Investments Elaine Stead has been awarded $280,000 in damages following a series of columns by Australian Financial Review writer Joe Aston.

"He did single her out for focus and engaged in a sustained campaign of offensive mockery which amounted, in my view, to a form of bullying," Justice Michael Lee said in his judgment on Wednesday.

"She was being serially mocked in Australia's leading financial daily as being, in effect, a gaping moron."

The "talented and oftentimes highly entertaining wordsmith" was determined to "go after" Dr Stead because he perceived she was not taking responsibility for her alleged failures at Blue Sky, Justice Lee said.

He intended to cause her reputation to suffer a "slow death" and knew very well the power he wielded as he had previously stated "I'm the one with the column inches".

Justice Lee agreed with one of Dr Stead's arguments that one article implied she was a "cretinously stupid person" after Aston linked her with high-profile feminist Clementine Ford who he called a "feminist cretin".

The pleaded defence of "honest opinion" had not been made out by either Nine's Fairfax Media nor Aston, it was determined.

Despite the public interest of Blye Sky's demise, the offensive way Mr Aston expressed himself meant Dr Stead felt she had no choice but to pursue litigation, he said.

The judge said this did not mean opinion or leader writers had to be "mealy-mouthed in denouncing hypocrisy, cant, farce or misfeasance".

But unless the truth could be proved, opinions needed to be properly based on facts stated in what is written or be otherwise evident.

Dr Stead's lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC had earlier told the court that before the AFR articles her client's reputation was "remarkable," especially in a heavily male-dominated profession with very few female venture capitalists.

She also accused Aston of conveying a "hatred of woman" and had launched his misogynistic attack against her client because she was a woman.

But Justice Lee said the writer had clearly targeted men in the past.

The allegation that an article stating Dr Stead was a pyromaniac that "set fire to other people's money" conveyed that she "deliberately destroyed the capital of business ventures ... causing enormous losses to investors", was also disputed.

Originally Dr Stead sought removal of the articles and an apology, but Fairfax Media stood by the stories.

An AFR spokesperson said the publication was disappointed by the court's decision, but Justice Lee found there was a strong public interest in the AFR and Aston reporting on the Blue Sky collapse and the conduct of its executives.

They were the subject of three ongoing class actions.

"The damages awarded of $280,000 are low compared to many other judgments in this area of law. They are dwarfed by both sides' legal fees which exceed $2 million," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Expensive and disproportionate defamation cases like this have a chilling effect on freedom of speech. The proposed reforms to the Defamation Act should go some way toward correcting the imbalance."

Justice Lee stood the case over for seven days to deal with any argument on the grant of relief, interest and costs, before making final orders.