Actor Geoffrey Rush has been awarded $3 million after winning his high-profile defamation case against a newspaper publisher in Sydney.
Judge Michael Wigney found in April that The Daily Telegraph publisher, Nationwide News, and journalist Jonathon Moran were reckless in their reporting that Rush had been accused of inappropriate behaviour during a Sydney theatre production of King Lear.
The judge ruled that a poster and two articles contained several defamatory meanings, including that the actor was a sexual predator. He also ruled that the publisher failed to prove that there was any truth to these accusations.
The Oscar-winning actor was, at the time, awarded nearly $1 million in damages, plus more than $43,000 in interest, but he wanted to further consider special damages for lost earnings, cost and interest.
Today, the judge awarded him a further $2 million for past and future loss.
