Bauer Media Pty Ltd. v. Wilson [No. 2]

Rebel Wilson (plaintiff), a famous Australian actor, was the co-lead in the successful 2015 Hollywood film Pitch Perfect 2 (PP2). Around the time PP2 was released, Bauer Media Pty Ltd. (Bauer) (defendant) published a series of articles in its magazines and on its website defaming Wilson. The articles claimed that Wilson was untrustworthy and that she had falsified her private life to further her acting career. Wilson filed a defamation action against Bauer, arguing that the articles had damaged her reputation, caused her significant distress, and caused her to miss out on lucrative Hollywood movie deals following the success of PP2. Wilson did not provide any concrete evidence of the alleged lost opportunities. Bauer countered and, in relevant part, raised the defense of triviality, arguing that the articles had been published under circumstances that were unlikely to cause Wilson harm. The trial court awarded Wilson substantial economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages were awarded to compensate Wilson for lost opportunities. The noneconomic damages awarded were comprised of damages for distress, reputation damage, and aggravated damages. The trial court based the aggravated-damages award on its findings that Bauer published the relevant articles without fact-checking, that Bauer knew the articles contained false allegations at the time of publication, that the articles were part of a targeted campaign to take down Wilson, and that Bauer’s defense of triviality was frivolous. Bauer appealed, arguing that the damages award was excessive. Bauer did not challenge the finding that it had defamed Wilson.