A defendant's offer that each party 'walk away' without an apology or monetary sum does not constitute a reasonable settlement offer under s 40 of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) where it should have been apparent that the plaintiff was defamed. The conventional 4% interest rate for non-economic loss may be modestly discounted in defamation cases where some aggravation arose during trial rather than at publication. Partial success on pleaded imputations does not necessarily reduce a plaintiff's entitlement to indemnity costs under s 40 where the defendant's failure to make a reasonable offer forced the plaintiff to pursue all claims.
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