* Bearing in mind the seemingly very harsh judgement against Phillips, might be prudent to exercise caution in commenting *
Former Sydney Swans player found to have defamed businesswoman (paywalled)
An ex-AFL player’s fight for a $21 refund has cost him $10,000 after a tribunal found he defamed the seller by calling her a “thief” on Facebook.
The post, by former Sydney Swans forward Simon Phillips, was found to have dashed the hopes Canberra businesswoman Louise Curtis had of becoming a director of rival AFL club Greater Western Sydney.
Phillips’ wife bought $32 worth of invitations and labels for their daughter’s first birthday party from Ms Curtis’ business Pink Frosting in January this year.
But the supplies never arrived, apparently because of a flood, then a fire and finally a broken printer.
Ms Curtis agreed to a partial $21 refund but that didn’t turn up either, due to an IT issue.
After Mr Phillips rang and emailed Pink Frosting to no avail he searched the internet and found “a number of complaints” about her business on productreview.com.au.
That number was nearly 1000, out of about 1200 reviews.
In its decision, published earlier this month, the ACT Administrative Tribunal said these complaints were “hearsay”.
Mr Phillips, who played five games for the Swans in 2006-07, then came across a Facebook page named “Pink Frosting are thieves: they owe me or people I know money", and posted "Louise is thieving innocent hard working Australians praying that we will all give up chasing her for a refund while in the middle of it all those who miss out are actually our kids."
ACT Fair Trading began investigating Pink Frosting in 2018 over unfulfilled orders and in September this year the territory’s parliament heard the business was “likely to have breached Australian consumer law” but “a full enforcement outcome was not pursued” because it had shut.
Former Sydney Swans player found to have defamed businesswoman (paywalled)
An ex-AFL player’s fight for a $21 refund has cost him $10,000 after a tribunal found he defamed the seller by calling her a “thief” on Facebook.
The post, by former Sydney Swans forward Simon Phillips, was found to have dashed the hopes Canberra businesswoman Louise Curtis had of becoming a director of rival AFL club Greater Western Sydney.
Phillips’ wife bought $32 worth of invitations and labels for their daughter’s first birthday party from Ms Curtis’ business Pink Frosting in January this year.
But the supplies never arrived, apparently because of a flood, then a fire and finally a broken printer.
Ms Curtis agreed to a partial $21 refund but that didn’t turn up either, due to an IT issue.
After Mr Phillips rang and emailed Pink Frosting to no avail he searched the internet and found “a number of complaints” about her business on productreview.com.au.
That number was nearly 1000, out of about 1200 reviews.
In its decision, published earlier this month, the ACT Administrative Tribunal said these complaints were “hearsay”.
Mr Phillips, who played five games for the Swans in 2006-07, then came across a Facebook page named “Pink Frosting are thieves: they owe me or people I know money", and posted "Louise is thieving innocent hard working Australians praying that we will all give up chasing her for a refund while in the middle of it all those who miss out are actually our kids."
ACT Fair Trading began investigating Pink Frosting in 2018 over unfulfilled orders and in September this year the territory’s parliament heard the business was “likely to have breached Australian consumer law” but “a full enforcement outcome was not pursued” because it had shut.
