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Australia's Federal Court ordered that an
Australian arm of News Corp pay the Oscar-winning actor A$1.98
million for past and future economic loss, in addition to an
initial A$850,000 payment awarded in April, court documents
showed on Thursday.
A News Corp spokeswoman did not immediately respond to emailed
and telephoned requests for comment. Rush's lawyer declined to
comment.
Rush, 67, had said the articles in the Daily Telegraph of Sydney
were hastily compiled because the newspaper had wanted an
Australian angle on accusations of sexual assault leveled at
U.S. film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Under the headline "KING LEER", and in later articles, the paper
had said Rush, playing the title role of a 2015 Sydney Theatre
Company production of Shakespeare's "King Lear", had been
accused by a co-star of unspecified inappropriate conduct.
The actor who won an Oscar in 1997 for his role in "Shine" and
has since appeared in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, said
the stories implied he was a "major pervert" or guilty of major
depravity.
In handing down his decision in April, Justice Michael Wigney
called the stories "recklessly irresponsible" and
"sensationalist journalism of the worst kind, the very worst
kind".
The newspaper said this month there were 16 grounds for appeal,
and that Wigney's conduct of the case "gave rise to an
apprehension of bias".
Wigney also dismissed an application by News Corp that he recuse
himself.
Australia has among the world's strictest defamation laws.
Actress Rebel Wilson was awarded $A4.6 million in damages from
Germany's Bauer Media which was found to have defamed her in a
serious of articles, before that was cut to $A600,000 on appeal
last year.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton, additional reporting by Tom
Westbrook in SYDNEY; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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