Daily Telegraph seeks leave to appeal decision as Geoffrey Rush defamation battle continues

The Daily Telegraph lawyers have argued Geoffrey Rush “can’t point to any factual errors” as the newspaper sought leave to appeal against a ruling which threw out parts of its defence in its ongoing defamation battle with the actor.

Lawyers for News Corp subsidiary Nationwide News told Sydney’s Federal Court this morning it wants to contest the decision to “strike out” three paragraphs of its qualified privilege defence.

Qualified privilege requires a publisher in defamation cases to prove that publishing a story was in the public interest and reasonable.