Bruce Lehrmann launches lawsuits against media companies
Bruce Lehrmann, the man who faced trial denying he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, has launched two lawsuits against media networks in the Federal Court.
NSW
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Bruce Lehrmann appears to have officially launched defamation proceedings against two media networks just months after the criminal trial into allegations he raped Brittany Higgins collapsed.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied sexually assaulting Ms Higgins in the Parliament House office of former Liberal Minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019.
He was put on trial in the ACT Supreme Court in October last year but the case collapsed after a juror’s misconduct was discovered by security guards.
The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions did not proceed with a second trial, as initially planned, which was slated to begin this month and the charge against Mr Lehrmann was withdrawn.
The charge was withdrawn.
Mr Lehrmann, on Tuesday, filed documents in the Federal Court against Network Ten and magazine publisher News Life Media Ltd, the publisher of news.com.au, the court registry shows.
The two lawsuits were filed just after 3pm with statements of claim lodged but not yet released by the Federal Court.
Neither media corporation has filed any documents in reply, and no court date has been set.
Mr Lehrmann has long been rumoured to be preparing lawsuits against media companies and journalists who reported on the allegations against him.
Mr Lehrmann is expected to seek damages and aggravated damages for news.com.au articles that detailed Ms Higgins’ allegations against a then-unnamed staffer.
That means Mr Lehrmann will need to prove in the court that the articles identified him to friends, family, colleagues in politics or others despite not naming him.
Mr Lehrmann’s barrister in the criminal trial, Steve Whybrow, spoke extensively about an interview with Ms Higgins and Network Ten’s Lisa Wilkinson on The Project.
The Project interview aired the same evening as news.com.au published Ms Higgins’ allegations for the first time, in February 2021.
His lawyers were contacted for comment.
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