Politicians Alex Greenwich and Mark Latham are back in court, this time to argue over costs relating to Greenwich’s successful defamation case against Latham.
Independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich successfully sued Latham over comments he made online. A court found that the then One Nation NSW leader had defamed the prominent LGBTIQA+ community member in a tweet that explicitly described a sex act. The court awarded Greenwich $140,000 in damages.
Now the parties are back in court to argue what percentage of Greenwich’s court costs Latham should be held responsible for.
Appearing for Greenwich high profile barrister Dr Matt Collins KC argued on Thursday that Latham shoould foot the entire bill, noting that he had turned down an opportunity to settle the matter with an apology, a retraction and a payment of $20,000.
Dr Collins told the court that the request had not demanded a concession that the remarks were defamatory, only that they caused distress.
Latham’s legal representative Guy Reynolds said an apology would have been used against Latham by his political rivals for the rest of his career. His team is arguing that Latham should only be asked to pay a quarter of the costs in the case, because the court had not found that subsequent statements made during media interviews were defamatory, only the initial tweet.
Justice David O’Callaghan will hand down his decision at a later date.
