The ACT Court of Appeal has more than doubled a defamation payout to a martial arts instructor who was falsely accused of being a paedophile, awarding him $50,000 on appeal.
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Businessman Jeff Manny made the false allegations against police officer Warwick Sheils and his late father Peter Sheils QC in 2004, after a dispute with the pair at the karate school they ran in Belconnen.
The school was attended by Manny's three sons.
In November 2004, Manny sent a letter to the superintendent of Belconnen police station, wrongly claiming the two men were paedophiles and Peter Sheils molested young boys, including Manny's own sons, while Warwick Sheils molested girls.
The Sheils took legal action against Manny. The case spanned nearly five years in the Supreme Court.
By the time a final decision was handed down in July 2010, Peter Sheils had died of cancer. Manny was found liable for defamation and ordered to pay Warwick Sheils $20,000 for the false accusations, which were described as malicious and vindictive.
But now-retired Justice Malcolm Gray declined to specify damages for Peter Sheils because of his death.
Warwick Sheils appealed the decision, saying he suffered economic loss because of the allegations.
It was argued he lost the chance to transfer to a different section of the Australian Federal Police, which would have boosted his career.
His lawyers also argued Justice Gray made an error when he declined to award damages to Peter Sheils's estate and should have handed down his decision earlier.
Peter Sheils's widow, Leslie, also sought to be represented in the appeal on behalf of her late husband.
In a judgment published this week, a full bench of the Court of Appeal partly upheld the appeal, finding Warwick Sheils had been awarded a ''manifestly inadequate'' amount of compensation.
Justices Richard Refshauge, John Burns and Bruce Lander said Manny had accused Mr Sheils of serious sexual crimes against children.
''It was an allegation calculated to cause him as much distress and aggravation as possible,'' they wrote, adding Manny did not resile from his allegations.
They increased Mr Sheils's payout to $50,000 but refused to award him further compensation for economic loss. But the three judges did not agree that Peter Sheils's estate should be awarded any compensation, saying any defamation action had ended with his death.
''It may have been desirable in view of Peter Sheils' illness, for example, for His Honour to have given judgment earlier … but [his] failure to adopt this course can hardly be elevated to appealable error,'' they said.
They also refused Mrs Sheils's application to join the appeal.
