Commbank vindicated in backing executive’s defamation claim
The Commonwealth Bank has been vindicated in its decision to provide financial backing to a senior executive and leader in its Open Advice Review Program who chose to take defamation action against an online publisher who accused the executive of causing damage to customers amid the controversy which surrounds the provision of financial advice.
NSW Supreme court judge, Julie McCallum awarded $300,000 in damages to the Commonwealth Bank's former Head of Customer Relations, Dr Brendan French, over allegations published by Michael Fraser, the publisher of a blog site called "The Arbitrator" which purported to "keep big business honest".
In handing down her decision, Justice McCallum stated, "Styling himself ‘The Arbitrator', Mr Fraser claims the vocation of ‘keeping big business honest'. Under that pious mantle and purportedly in wreak of unspecified wrongs done by the bank to unnamed customers, Mr Fraser has subjected Dr French to a hellish two years of bullying and harassment".
"Publicly, he has mounted a wide-reaching and wholly unfounded attack on Dr French's reputation. In a disturbingly more sinister private campaign, Mr Fraser has bombarded Dr French with hundreds of emails, texts and voice messages, many containing thinly-veiled threats evidently motivated by homophobia and other senseless vitriol," McCallum said in her judgement.
Further, she said that in "in the unusual circumstances of this case, the bank was right to fund Dr French's action".
"The harm caused to him by Mr Fraser's bizarre conduct is serious and has plainly occurred solely because he was the human face of customer relations at the Commonwealth Bank. There is not the smallest suggestion of any actual wrong-doing on Dr French's part. For the bank to back Dr French's attempts to stem the personal harm to him caused by Mr Fraser was entirely appropriate," the judgement said.
The Commonwealth Bank earlier this month announced that Dr French had accepted a new position within the company, as Executive General Manager Customer Advocacy and Remediation in Marketing in Strategy.
It said that Leif Gamersfelder had been appointed as the Executive General Manager of the Advice Review program and had taken over the responsibilities previously held by French.
In this new position, Brendan will lead a Group-wide focus on customer advocacy and remediation, which extends our commitment to customer service by building a consistent approach to remediation and review of our products and service.
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