Bruce Lehrmann’s legal fees could exceed $2 million after losing his blockbuster defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.
In the Federal Court on Monday, Justice Michael Lee found on a civil matter that Lehrmann raped a very drunk Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019.
It was a blow for the former Liberal staffer turned law student who had been out of work since early 2021, when Ms Higgins first went public with her allegations in an interview with Wilkinson on The Project.
Lehrmann was not named on this show, but launched a defamation suit in an attempt to clear his name – an effort which backfired spectacularly when Judge Lee branded him a sex offender, an unreliable witness and a liar in his three-hour sentencing.
The defeat means he now has to worry about covering the costs of Network Ten and Wilkinson’s lawyers.
His only saving grace might be that he doesn’t have to worry about paying his own lawyers, because they worked on a no-win, no-fee basis.
Bruce Lehrmann is pictured picking up dog poop on the balcony of his former home in Sydney in December last year.
Brittany Higgins is pictured with her fiancé, David Sharaz. On Monday, a judge found rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann true.
The exact amount owed to Ten and Wilkinson will be determined at a later date, with Judge Lee marking April 22 as the due date for costs submissions.
But it will likely be a seven-figure sum.
Wilkinson’s lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou SC, charges $8,000 a day alone and her total bill was worth more than $700,000 in October – two months before the month-long defamation hearing.
Since then, Ms Chrysanthou has been in court almost every day of the month-long hearing in December. Its costs are now probably more than $1 million.
There are also the costs of lawyers on both sides and the fees of Network Ten’s lawyer, Matthew Collins KC.
The cost of the entire affair is estimated at $10 million.
In court on Monday, Ten’s lawyer, Justin Quill, said he was confident the network would be able to recoup some of the costs.
And speaking on Sunrise on Tuesday morning, Mr Quill explained that the judge had asked both sides for submissions on their costs before deciding who should pay what.
Lisa Wilkinson and her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC walked out of the defamation case on Monday, arm in arm.
“This order… I am reasonably sure that it will be in favor of Ten and perhaps on an indemnity basis, which means that Ten would be entitled to reimbursement of all its costs,” he said. declared.
“Whether they are able to recover those costs is another matter and will depend to a large extent on Bruce Lehrmann’s means.”
Lehrmann won two out-of-court settlements from ABC and News Corp last year, worth a total of $445,000, after filing a defamation suit against them for the same reason he continued Ten and Wilkinson.
However, he is currently unemployed and appears to be couch surfing with no fixed address.
If he can’t find a way to pay his bills, he might have to declare bankruptcy.
In his judgment on Monday, Judge Lee said: “To point out that Mr Lehrmann was a poor witness is an understatement. »
“His commitment to the truth was tenuous, informed not by fidelity to his assertion but by shaping his responses according to what he perceived to be his forensic interests.”
Bruce Lehrmann is pictured in court on Monday, after losing his libel case
Justice Lee found that Lehrmann took Ms Higgins back to a “secluded location”, namely the ministerial suite, after a night out with colleagues with the aim of having sex with her.
“Mr Lehrmann was determined to have sex with a woman he found sexually attractive, had kissed and touched passionately, had encouraged drinking and knew that she had lowered his inhibitions because she was very drunk” , did he declare.
“I am satisfied that it is more likely than not that Mr. Lehrmann’s state of mind was such that he was so concerned with gratification that he was indifferent to Ms. Higgins’ consent.”
Lehrmann stood trial for sexual assault in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022, but the case was dropped due to misconduct by a juror.
The former ACT director of public prosecutions later dropped the charges against him, citing concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.
He had pleaded not guilty.
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