Quaden Bayles was suing Miranda Devine over comments made on Twitter.Credit:SMH
The Brisbane school boy,who has achondroplasia dwarfism,launched defamation proceedings against Devine and her employer Nationwide News in July over a series of tweets from her Twitter account in February that raised questions about whether a viral video in which he cried after being bullied at school was"a scam".
The case was brought on his behalf by his mother Yarraka,who was also suing Devine in her own right for suggesting she"coached"Quaden.
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Nationwide News,the publisher of theTelegraph,had taken the unusual step of briefing a lawyer to appear only on its behalf in court. It claimed tweets from the prominent columnist's public Twitter account,which identified her as an employee,were"private"and unrelated to material it published.
Devine did not appear in court,either in person or via a lawyer,until the settlement hearing on Friday when Holding Redlich partner Susan Goodman appeared on her behalf.
The settlement covers all four parties including Nationwide News. It is unclear whether either or both Devine and the company will cover the settlement plus legal costs.
Justice Katzmann said the settlement involved"pecuniary and non-pecuniary"elements and the money would be paid into a trust for Quaden,with his mother and her sister appointed as trustees.