Lawyer sues Newman and Bleijie for Defamation
Friday 4 April 2014 @ 2.06 p.m. | Crime | Torts, Damages & Civil Liability
According to an ABC News article, a Queensland lawyer who represents outlaw motorcycle gang members is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the State's Premier and Attorney-General in a defamation suit over their recently released comments regarding the bikie gangs and the lawyers defending them against the new legislation.
In the remarks in February, Mr Newman told reporters that "lawyers who defended bikies were hired guns who took money from people who sold drugs to teenagers."
Mr Newman's comments prompted the state's Bar Association to demand a retraction and an apology. The remarks also drew criticism from the Queensland Law Society.
Mr Bleijie later defended the Premier, saying Mr Newman was responding specifically to a question about Hannay Lawyers on the Gold Coast.
On Tuesday (1 April 2014), Mr Hannay, who has defended bikies in the past, launched defamation proceedings against both the Premier and the Attorney-General. In the complaint, filed in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Mr Hannay is seeking $600,000 in damages from each defendant. Mr Hannay is also claiming $500,000 in general damages from each defendant. He also claims a further $100,000 from each in aggravated damages, based on what he alleges was the "malice of the defendants in publishing words they knew to be untrue, motivated by a wish to make political capital out of an attack on lawyers".
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