The long-running legal and political fallout from Brittany Higgins’ 2019 rape allegation against Bruce Lehrmann has entangled multiple parties over the years, particularly through a series of defamation lawsuits. Let’s take a look:
Linda Reynolds v Brittany Higgins
The most recent ruling is by the Western Australian Supreme Court which found Brittany Higgins guilty of defaming her ex-boss, former Senator Linda Reynolds, through multiple social media posts made in 2022 and 2023.
Justice Paul Tottle identified several false and damaging statements alleging Reynolds mishandled Higgins’ rape allegation, orchestrated harassment, and sought to silence sexual assault victims – claims that were not based in fact and severely harmed Reynolds’ reputation.
As a result, Higgins has been ordered to pay approximately A$315,000 in damages plus around A$26,000 in interest, with legal costs still to be determined, potentially bringing her total liability to over A$2 million.
The court also found that one of the posts, an earlier tweet, was protected under defamation defenses such as honest opinion, fair comment, and qualified privilege, meaning no damages were awarded for that particular instance.
You can read more here.
It’s important to note, as part of her defamation claim, former Senator Reynolds sought access to the $2.4 million Commonwealth settlement paid to Higgins.
She alleged that the funds were held in a trust set up to “defeat or delay” creditors, and she needed access to satisfy any judgment.
As of now, Reynolds has not yet successfully gained access to Higgins’s trust funds. She has obtained the right to view the trust’s details and is pursuing legal action to potentially void it, but the funds remain locked within the trust, and any actual transfer to Reynolds depends on further legal outcomes.
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And check out this article here for a fantastic overview of the legal implications of Higgins’ trust fund, insolvency law and bankruptcy law. Here’s a snippet:
“Emeritus Professor Christopher Symes is one of Australia’s pre-eminent insolvency law researchers. While Prof Symes is not involved in the case, he said the issue of whether or not Ms Higgins could ever be forced to hand over the money if she loses the defamation case was a fascinating legal question.”
Bruce Lehrmann v. Network Ten & Lisa Wilkinson (Defamation Case)
So what happened when it came to Bruce Lehrmann, Network Ten, and Lisa Wilkinson’s defamation lawsuit?
Let’s recap:
After the allegations made by Higgins’ against Bruce Lehrmann came to light, she was interviewed by journalist Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten. Lehrmann subsequently sued both Network Ten and Wilkinson for defamation over their coverage of Higgins’ allegations.
In April 2024, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ruled against Lehrmann, finding on the balance of probabilities that he did rape Higgins, and thus the allegations reported were substantially true. He lost the defamation case as a result and is currently appealing the findings after facing a hefty $2 million legal bill.
This quote by Justice Michael Lee, as part of summarising his findings, was widely shared across social media:
“Having escaped the lion’s den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat.”
But that’s not all. At the time, Wilkinson had a separate dispute with Network Ten over who would cover her personal legal expenses. The network initially resisted covering her costs after she retained independent counsel but eventually agreed.
In February 2025, the Federal Court ordered Network Ten to indemnify Wilkinson for A$1.15 million, of which about A$558,500 had already been paid; the remainder was due by mid-March 2025.
Wilkinson has also since appealed aspects of Justice Lee’s judgment, particularly his finding that she acted unreasonably in broadcasting the interview, and argued that the public interest and her reliance on legal advice should afford her qualified privilege protection.
You can read more here.
At Litton Legal, we’re defamation experts. If you need assistance with any defamation matters get in touch with our friendly team here.
