Maybe it was just 'the vibe', but a Queensland lawyer has lost his bid for $250,000 in damages after he was compared to Dennis Denuto, the bumbling solicitor from the cult Australian movie classic, The Castle.

But a judge found that the nature of the imputation against the Ipswich solicitor, "its affect on the plaintiff and its subsequent circulation within print and electronic media" did lead to the lawyer of 36 years sustaining "some harm" and if he had not dismissed the case, would have awarded him $10,000, given the circumstances.

In the best defamation case of 2015, a Queensland solicitor sued for being likened to The Castle's bumbling suburban lawyer Dennis Denuto.

Brett Clayton Smith, began legal proceedings in 2013, after Kenneth Lucht, the former husband of his daughter-in-law Sally Smith, referred to him as "Dennis Denuto" in an email to Ms Smith in early 2013 and during two conversations with Mr Smith's family later that same year.

Mr Lucht admitted to the email, but not the conversations, although it was possible Judge Tony Moynihan said in his ruling, that it was open that Mr Lucht did say "Dennis" during the conversations in question.