The Court of Appeal has power under s 108(3) of the Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) to direct a verdict that an imputation is defamatory, rather than ordering a new trial, where the jury's finding that the imputation was not defamatory was perverse and there is nothing to cast doubt on the jury's finding that the imputation was conveyed. Section 7A of the Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) does not impliedly repeal or qualify s 108(3). An imputation that a specialist medical practitioner provides treatment which is useless, dangerous and causes harm is self-evidently defamatory.
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