Whitlam must pay NRMA for defamation costs
Former NRMA President Nick Whitlam must pay his former company’s legal costs – possibly reaching $500,000 – over a defamation action he took against the Nine television network.
The NSW Court of Appeal last week overturned last year’s decision by the Supreme Court ordering NRMA to indemnify Mr Whitlam for a defamation case he launched against Nine over a story on its Sunday program in March 2001.
That suit, which he eventually dropped, was relaunched last year after the Supreme Court ruled NRMA would have to cover his legal costs.
NRMA General Counsel Helen Burgess said the Supreme Court decision had set a precedent for companies to cover the legal costs of former directors pursuing damages against third parties.
Mr Whitlam has yet to decide whether he will appeal against the latest decision. He resigned from NRMA in 2002 after the Supreme Court found he had breached the Corporations Act by failing to sign about 4000 proxies voting against an increase in directors’ fees in 1998.
He was barred from being a director of a company for five years and fined $20,000, but had his conviction quashed in July 2003 by the Court of Appeal. That decision was upheld in April 2004.
The NSW Court of Appeal last week overturned last year’s decision by the Supreme Court ordering NRMA to indemnify Mr Whitlam for a defamation case he launched against Nine over a story on its Sunday program in March 2001.
That suit, which he eventually dropped, was relaunched last year after the Supreme Court ruled NRMA would have to cover his legal costs.
NRMA General Counsel Helen Burgess said the Supreme Court decision had set a precedent for companies to cover the legal costs of former directors pursuing damages against third parties.
Mr Whitlam has yet to decide whether he will appeal against the latest decision. He resigned from NRMA in 2002 after the Supreme Court found he had breached the Corporations Act by failing to sign about 4000 proxies voting against an increase in directors’ fees in 1998.
He was barred from being a director of a company for five years and fined $20,000, but had his conviction quashed in July 2003 by the Court of Appeal. That decision was upheld in April 2004.