How a tabloid dog attracted the attention of the ABC's crack current affairs unit
The case of Oscar, the million-dollar celebrity cavoodle who has launched several very long, costly and acrimonious legal battles, has been a subject of rich satisfaction to CBD and its readers.
Quick recap – Sydney barrister Gina Edwards successfully sued Nine (owner of this masthead per the usual disclaimers) over an episode of A Current Affair that portrayed her as a 'dog thief'. Edwards is now locked in a dispute with her former solicitor Rebekah Giles, a pugnacious defamation specialist well-known to readers of this column, concerning legal costs.
Now an unexpected plot twist. The case caught the attention of an unlikely player – none other than our public broadcaster, which must be the first time the ABC has sought to follow up an ACA tabloid banger.
Journalists from the ABC's highfalutin Background Briefing, who clearly haven't been avidly glued to this column, became aware of the case after dropping in on a talk given by in-demand defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, who was Edwards' counsel in the case against Nine.
They subsequently tried to get their hands on an affidavit in the costs dispute filed by Giles' firm Giles George. In turn, the firm opposed the ABC's access request, and sought a suppression order prohibiting disclosure of the document.
Giles George argued in written submissions that releasing it would reveal commercially sensitive information and served no legitimate public interest. This was rejected by Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney, who ordered its release on Tuesday. A win for open justice!
But the wheels of justice turn far more slowly than the news cycle. By the time Wigney had ordered the document's release to the ABC, Background Briefing's episode on defamation laws had already been broadcast weeks ago, with no mention of poor Oscar the Cavoodle, who is taking this snub like a very good boy.
Still, the dispute between Edwards and her former lawyers is far from resolved, despite Giles George briefly drafting in seasoned silk Arthur Moses, SC, to attend mediation sessions between the parties, which have so far gone nowhere. Edwards also accused Giles of 'witness-coaching' her during last year's defamation trial (a claim denied by her former lawyer) and has made a complaint to the Law Society of NSW over the costs agreement.
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