Category Archives: Defamation law (Australia)

Bruce Lehrmann granted extension to consider appeal of defamation ruling in Network Ten case

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Justice Michael Lee labels Ten lawyer’s comments outside court following judgment ‘discourteous’ and ‘misleading’

Bruce Lehrmann has been granted an extension of time to consider an appeal at a federal court hearing which saw Network Ten’s conduct outside the court, after the judgment, described by Justice Michael Lee as “discourteous” and “misleading”.

Lee said Ten’s decision to offer comment outside his court minutes after the judgment was handed down had caused him concern, in particular the claim the network had been vindicated.

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Bruce Lehrmann to pay Peter FitzSimons thousands in legal costs

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Lehrmann will pay the columnist $4,616 to cover cost of producing documents during failed defamation case against Channel Ten and Lisa Wilkinson

Bruce Lehrmann has agreed to pay the columnist and author Peter FitzSimons’ costs for complying with a subpoena during Lehrmann’s failed defamation proceedings against Network Ten and former Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson.

Lehrmann lost his defamation case against Network Ten and Wilkinson in the federal court earlier this month. Justice Michael Lee found on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019. Lehrmann has consistently denied the allegation and pleaded not guilty at the criminal trial into the matter which was aborted due to juror misconduct.

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Bruce Lehrmann should pay Ten’s entire legal bill after ‘deliberately wicked’ decision to sue, network says

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In court submissions, Ten’s lawyers argue Lehrmann should indemnify the network for its legal costs, estimated at $8m

Bruce Lehrmann should pay all Network Ten’s legal costs because suing The Project for defamation was “deliberately wicked and calculated” and an abuse of process, Ten has told the federal court.

The former Liberal staffer lost the defamation case he brought against Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, with Justice Michael Lee finding that on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019.

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Linda Reynolds welcomes Brittany Higgins’ ‘olive branch’ but says without concessions she will go to trial

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Reynolds says if ‘Higgins does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on the claims of coverup and mistreatment … it will have to be proved again in our trial’

Linda Reynolds has welcomed Brittany Higgins’ “olive branch” apology but insists she will take her former staffer to court in July unless she accepts a federal court’s finding the Liberal senator did not cover up and mistreat her.

In a statement on Saturday, Higgins apologised to Reynolds, the former defence minister and her one-time boss, along with her then chief of staff Fiona Brown, after Justice Lee’s judgment last Monday rejected Higgins’s claims of a political cover-up.

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Brittany Higgins hopes Bruce Lehrmann rape finding sets ‘new precedent’ for sexual assault survivors

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In her first statement since a judge dismissed Lehrmann’s defamation action, Higgins also takes swipe at Seven’s Spotlight program

Brittany Higgins says she hopes Justice Michael Lee’s judgment in Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case will set a new precedent for how courts consider the testimonies of victims of sexual assault.

In a statement on Saturday, Higgins also said she was “devastated a rapist was given a nationwide platform to maintain his lies about what happened”. She hoped people who contributed to Channel Seven’s Spotlight program last June, in which Lehrmann was interviewed, “will reflect on their decision”.

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How Justice Michael Lee untangled the Higgins-Lehrmann ‘omnishambles’

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It was a masterclass in dispassionate legal dissection with lessons for future defamation and sexual assault prosecutions, and for media practice

In determining that Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins, federal court justice Michael Lee took a giant knot of allegations, with all its loops and loose ends, and meticulously and painstakingly unpicked it.

That he did it with such acerbic clarity makes an already unusual judgment only more so.

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Parliament rape claim was true, judge rules in case that gripped Australia

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Defamation trial judge satisfied, on balance of probabilities, that Bruce Lehrmann raped colleague Brittany Higgins in 2019

For years, the Australian public has been fascinated by a rape allegation in Parliament House that embroiled government ministers, media personalities and political staff in multiple complicated legal and civil battles.

The saga reached a climax on Monday when Justice Michael Lee declared he was satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that Bruce Lehrmann raped his then colleague Brittany Higgins in 2019.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live updates: verdict an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for Lehrmann, Ten lawyer says; Wilkinson says she ‘published a true story about rape’

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Justice Lee finds Ten’s defence of truth successful after Lehrmann sued the network and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from the judgment today

Bruce Lehrmann and Lisa Wilkinson have both arrived into courtroom one on the 21st level of the federal court building in central Sydney.

Lehrmann is sitting at the bench, alongside his legal team, while Wilkinson is sitting on the other side of the courtroom in the front row of the gallery, in a row of red reserved seats.

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Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn leaves Seven

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Llewellyn confirmed his resignation which comes after Lehrmann defamation trial heard about tactics allegedly used to secure interview, claims he and the network deny

Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn has confirmed his resignation from Channel Seven, which comes after allegations made during a defamation trial that the network reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for money spent on cocaine and sex workers.

Both Seven and Llewllyn have denied those allegations.

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Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, judge finds on balance of probabilities

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Justice Michael Lee finds former Liberal staffer was not defamed by Lisa Wilkinson and Ten in interview with Brittany Higgins in February 2021

Bruce Lehrmann has lost his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, bringing to an end a sprawling legal saga which has gripped the nation.

In a live oral summary that took two and a half hours, Justice Michael Lee said the former Liberal staffer was not defamed by Wilkinson and Ten when The Project broadcast an interview with Brittany Higgins on Monday 15 February 2021 in which she alleged she was raped in Parliament House.

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Brittany Higgins questions whether she was drugged on night of alleged rape in new court submission

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Higgins says any question about her evidence in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case should take into account her trauma and the possibility she may have been drugged

Brittany Higgins has told the federal court the suggestion by an AFP officer that she might have been drugged on the night she was allegedly raped should have been raised in the defamation trial.

Higgins filed a seven-page submission to the court on Tuesday after being invited by Justice Michael Lee last week to make final submissions concerning her credit before the judgment in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson is handed down on Monday.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: judge to hand down verdict on Monday

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Federal court announces a new date for the decision after original date delayed by fresh evidence

Justice Michael Lee will deliver his judgment in the defamation case Bruce Lehrmann brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court in Sydney on Monday.

The federal court announced the date for the decision on Tuesday, more than three months after the five-week trial ended on 22 December and four days after the final hearing of additional evidence last week.

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‘I’ve got the yarn’: Taylor Auerbach cautioned over spending as he courted Bruce Lehrmann, texts reveal

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Fellow Spotlight producer told Auerbach he found it ‘bizarre’ he was taking Lehrmann to dinner every night

Spotlight producers warned Taylor Auerbach about dropping too much money on Seven’s company card while he courted Bruce Lehrmann over several months for an exclusive interview, text messages have revealed.

The text messages between the former Seven producer and his senior colleagues were tendered in federal court after the Lehrmann defamation trial was reopened for Auerbach to give additional evidence as part of Channel Ten’s defence.

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Australia weather live updates: more heavy rain forecast for NSW and Qld as SES issues flood warnings; Sydney downpours cause train delays and airport flight cancellations

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Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney airport and drivers told to avoid non-essential travel as inland low and coastal trough combine

Helen Reid from the Bureau of Meteorology has just provided us with an update on the Sydney rain and said the city could very well receive a month’s worth of rain in one day.

She pointed to the Observatory Hill gauge and said on average in April, there is around 126.5mm of rainfall during the month. Since 9am yesterday morning, there has been 106mm of rain.

We are expecting rainfall over Sydney to increase during today … I would suggest that if we got more than the April average, that wouldn’t be too beyond too far beyond this stretch of imagination.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live updates: judge asks Ten lawyer why ‘sordid’ evidence is relevant to case findings – latest news

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Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson has reopened to hear evidence from the former Spotlight producer. Follow the latest news and updates from the federal court of Australia today

There has been a big document dump on the federal court’s website this morning, with 17 exhibits and affidavits relating to yesterday’s evidence uploaded to the site.

These include screenshots of text messages between Auerbach and Steve Jackson during the night of the alleged “bender” in January 2023, during which Auerbach says Lehrmann bought cocaine and ordered the services of sex workers. Auerbach told the court on Thursday that the drugs and sex workers were paid for by Lehrmann, who was then reimbursed by Channel Seven as “per diem” charges.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live updates: judge to hear fresh evidence from Taylor Auerbach after Channel Ten wins last-minute bid – latest news

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Lehrmann is suing Channel Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from today

Judge asks for documents relating to Taylor Auerbach’s departure from Seven

Justice Lee has asked Taylor Auerbach’s solicitor to produce as many documents as possible that relate to the producer’s departure from Seven last year by this afternoon.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: Channel Ten wins bid to present fresh evidence

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Justice Michael Lee has reopened high-profile case to allow fresh evidence from former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach

Justice Michael Lee will allow Channel Ten to present additional evidence in its defence of the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann, delaying the judgment until next week.

The case will be reopened and the evidence of a new witness, former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach, will now be tested on Thursday, the day the judgment was to have been handed down.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: Network Ten asks to reopen its defence, citing ‘fresh evidence’

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Justice Michael Lee will hear an urgent application from Network Ten at 5pm on Tuesday

Network Ten will ask the federal court to reopen its defence on Tuesday at an emergency hearing scheduled less than two days before the judgement in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case is due to be handed down.

Justice Michael Lee was scheduled to deliver his judgment in the federal court in Sydney at 10.15am on Thursday 4 April in the defamation case Lehrmann brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.

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