Brett Clayton Smith took his case to the Court of Appeal after a trial judge in the District Court dismissed claims of damages of defamation against Kenneth Craig Lucht, former husband of Mr Smith's daughter-in-law, Sally Smith.

Mr Smith claimed Mr Lucht had referred to him as "Dennis Denuto" in an email addressed to Ms Smith where he made reference to Mr Smith - "the barrage I received from Dennis Denuto from Ipswich about stupid things".

Mr Smith also claimed Mr Lucht referred to him as the fictional character in two verbal conversations between the respondent, Ms Smith and his son Jarrad Smith.

The trial judge Tony Moynihan explained who Dennis Denuto was, describing him "as likeable and well-intentioned, but inexperienced in matters of constitutional law...his appearance in the Federal Court portrayed him as unprepared, lacking in knowledge and judgement, incompetent and unprofessional."

Judge Moynihan found the statements made by Mr Lucht were confined to Mr Smith's family members who were able to make their own assessment of the imputation.

"The circumstances of publication were such that the plaintiff was unlikely to sustain any harm to his reputation as the statements were confined to two members of his family."

"The three statement did not convey any breach of duty, illegal acts or dishonesty of behalf of the plaintiff and they were not made in a form that was intended to be or likely to be published by the defendant beyond Sally and Jarrad."

On Thursday, Mr Smith had his appeal dismissed along and was ordered to pay the respondent's costs of and incidental to the appeal.

Stay informed. Like Brisbane Times on Facebook