ABC Journalist, Louise Milligan has agreed to pay Dr Andrew Laming over $70,000 in damages, plus his legal costs.
However, Milligan won’t be footing the bill, her employer, ABC, will be paying the costs, citing “particular and exceptional circumstances.”
Laming, a liberal politician sued Milligan for defamation after she posted a series of tweets in March this year, alleging that Laming had taken an ‘upskirt’ shot of a woman.
Laming had also threatened to sue a site, The Shot owned by The Chaser, for similar allegations however the site apologised and retracted its statement and Laming did not proceed with any legal action.
Milligan’s tweets stemmed from allegations from a woman, Crystal White who accused Laming of taking an upskirt shot of her.
White even took her complaint to the police, though ultimately no charges were made against Laming.
However, Laming’s has maintained that the alleged photograph was completely dignified.
Milligan then published four tweets, where she insinuated that Laming’s had taken an upskirt shot.
Laming then sued Milligan for defamation, claiming her Tweets, harmed his reputation.
Laming asked Milligan to delete the tweets and apologise. Milligan deleted the tweets but did not issue a formal apology.
To be clear, Laming was only suing Milligan for defamation and not ABC.
However, ABC has stuck by Milligan during the case and have agreed to pay all costs.
The ABC released a statement that read: “The defamation claim brought against Louise Milligan by Andrew Laming has been settled. Resolving the claim avoids a potentially protracted and costly legal action.
“As previously stated, the ABC decided to pay Ms Milligan’s costs in this matter, a decision arising from particular and exceptional circumstances.”
