Pisasale lawyers ask Gary Duffy's wife to pay legal fees
FORMER Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale's lawyers have asked a court to force the wife of a mayoral candidate to pay their legal bill for a defamation case.
In the District Court in Brisbane on Monday, Pisasale's barrister Patrick McCafferty said Ipswich mayoral candidate Gary Duffy's wife Conny Turni should be liable because Mr Duffy is a "man of straw" who is unemployed and whose only asset is a car.
Mr McCafferty asked Judge Richard Jones to strike out Mr Duffy's defence to the defamation claim, arguing that it failed to set out a proper defence and made further baseless allegations.
Mr Pisasale sued Mr Duffy in February, claiming he defamed him in several Facebook posts between October and November last year.
He has asked the court to award him $380,500 in general damages and $250,000 in aggravated damages because of the "grave and highly damaging nature of the allegations" and "false allegations of serious criminal behaviour".
Mr Duffy, from East Ipswich, is defending the claims. He is self-represented.
