Defamation threats, many of them concerning pages on this website

Since the 1980s, I've been threatened with legal action for defamation on several occasions. As well, several pages on this website have been the subject of defamation threats. The accounts here are abbreviated. Several of the threats relate to pages developed by Michael Wynne concerning corporate healthcare, hosted on this site.
Brian Martin

2018, 18 December. Tony Davidovski sent a letter to Irene Publishing, publisher of my book Vaccination Panic in Australia, demanding removal of a comment he had made on the Facebook page of the group Stop the Australian Vaccination Network, with a threat to sue for defamation. The publisher, Jorgen Johansen, replied with a friendly letter pointing out that the Facebook group was open, not closed, so Davidovski's comment was in the public domain. He apologised.

2015, 12 September. I received a letter from lawyer Ewa Wielinska, on behalf of Tomasz Justynski, threatening to sue over Marek Wronski's July 2013 article "Accusations against a dean," posted on my site in English translation. I replied asking which statements in the article were false and misleading, asking how the English translation differed from the original in Polish, and inviting a response for possible publication. No further communication was received.

2015, 5 May. I received a letter from the law firm GrilloHiggins, on behalf of John Cunningham, threatening to take me to the Victorian Supreme Court seeking an injunction over a paragraph I drafted about my former PhD student Judy Wilyman. I had sent the text to Cunningham seeking his comment, prior to possible publication. I wrote to Cunningham saying I thought he had misread or misinterpreted my message, and soon after wrote a clarifying email. Cunningham did not take me to court.

2010, November. Someone phoned the University of Wollongong administration asking that an article by Donna Chung (a pseudonym), published on pages 8-10 of the July 2004 issue of The Whistle, be removed from the site. However, The Whistle hadn't been hosted on the university server for many months, so no action was required.

2009, November. Someone phoned a member of the University of Wollongong executive to complain about a page dealing with Ian McGoldrick & Companies. This page was provided by Michael Wynne. A revised version of the page is available on my non-university site.

2007, February. Lawyers for Millie Phillips wrote to the university administration to request that a page on my website be removed. This page was provided by Michael Wynne. He provided a revised page, and Phillips was offered a chance to reply. She did not reply, but instead wrote to the university chancellor castigating the page. The lawyers did not respond. The revised page was posted.

2007, January. Lawyers for Tricare Healthcare wrote to the University of Wollongong administration to complain about a page on my website. This page was provided by Michael Wynne. I wrote to the lawyers offering to post a reply from Tricare. There was no response.

2006, November. Lawyers for Doug Moran wrote to a University of Wollongong senior official to request removal of a page on my website. This page was provided by Michael Wynne. I removed the page. Michael Wynne prepared a revised page, which I sent to the lawyers in February 2007. They did not respond, so I posted the revised page.

2005. Peter Walsh, a former police officer, threatened to sue over two sentences referring to him in The Whistle, July 2004, pages 10 and 11. Some of the negotiations over an apology were reported in The Whistle, November 2005, pages 1 and 11. An apology was published in The Whistle, February 2006, page 16. Ironically, the apology and reports about negotiating an apology provided much more detail about and directed much more attention to allegations concerning Peter Walsh than the original two sentences.

2004. Someone from Primary Healthcare threatened to sue over a page on my website. This page was provided by Michael Wynne. I removed the page and sought advice from university officials. Months later, receiving no advice, I posted a revised page prepared by Michael Wynne.

1998. Bruce Ilett threatened to sue over an article about Jan ter Horst in the December 1997 issue of The Whistle. I offered to publish a response. Bruce Ilett took up this offer; his response appeared in the May 1998 issue. He did not sue.

1997. Mary O'Kane, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, contacted Gerard Sutton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, and threatened legal action over an item about Dudley Pinnock on my website. See "Defamation havens" for a full account.

1996. Officials from the University of Western Australia threatened to sue over material on my website about David Rindos. See "Defamation havens" for a full account.

1983. Don Higson suggested he might sue because, in my booklet Nuclear Knights, I listed him as an advocate of uranium mining and nuclear power. He did not sue. See "Science policy: dissent and its difficulties" for an account.

1983. Leslie Kemeny threatened to sue The Ecologist over my article "The naked experts." Letters were published in a later issue. Despite another threat to sue The Ecologist, me and two others, he did not sue. See "Science policy: dissent and its difficulties" for an account.

1980. Sir Philip Baxter, after receiving a draft of my booklet Nuclear Knights, threatened to sue for defamation. However, after publication, he did not sue. See "Science policy: dissent and its difficulties" and "Writing Nuclear Knights".