The ordinary reasonable reader of a publication describing a strip club operator as 'Madam Black Mercedes' would understand the reference as conveying the imputation that the operator was a brothel madam, notwithstanding that the word 'madam' has other dictionary meanings. A trial judge's analysis of meaning by reference to dictionary definitions rather than the perspective of the ordinary reasonable reader who reads between the lines constitutes appellable error. An imputation that a plaintiff runs a venue at which corrupt police conduct occurs is defamatory of the plaintiff even without specifying the plaintiff's knowledge of or involvement in the conduct, where the publication does not descend to that level of detail.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 13 later cases that cite this judgment.