Bruce Lehrmann to learn whether he has to stump up $200k for appeal

Bruce Lehrmann will learn whether he will have to shell out a $200,000 security in order to be allowed to launch an appeal against his defamation suit loss.

Bruce Lehrmann will on Wednesday learn whether he will have to stump up $200,000 in order to launch an appeal against his devastating defamation suit loss to Network 10.

The ex-Liberal staffer is seeking to appeal Justice Michael Lee’s findings after he earlier this year lost his high-stakes lawsuit against Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.

Justice Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann raped former colleague Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in March 2019 following a night out drinking with colleagues.

Bruce Lehrmann will on Wednesday learn the fate of his appeal. Picture: Newswire/Gaye Gerard.

He was also ordered to pay $2m for their Ten’s legal costs.

Lehrmann has filed a notice of appeal, however Ten has asked the court to order that the now unemployed law student pay a $200,000 surety in order for his appeal hearing to go ahead.

The amount is to cover Ten’s legal costs in the event that Lehrmann loses once again.

The matter was argued during a hearing before the Federal Court last week, with Justice Wendy Abraham to on Wednesday hand down her judgment.

Lehrmann has also applied for a stay on the $2 costs order, which will also be decided by Justice Abraham on Wednesday.

According to the court documents, Lehrmann has been on Centrelink benefits since January 1, 2022.

Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer Zali Burrows says her client’s only chance of making money is to go on OnlyFans. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short.

And his solicitor Zali Burrows told a court last week Lehrman was unable to pay a $200,000 security.

“It’s a bit rich to ask him to put up $200,000 when they are one of the contributors to why he is pretty much unemployable,” Ms Burrows said.

“The only shot he’d probably ever have in making money is by going on OnlyFans or something silly like that.

“Other than they know he can’t come up with this money and it’s just to shut down this appeal altogether.”

In her submissions to the court, Ms Burrows had claimed there was a “power imbalance” between Ten and Lehrmann.

She further described the application for a surety as a “bullying hard-hitting tactic” to “smack down” his appeal.

She also argued that Ten would earn more than $200,000 in advertising revenue by reporting on any appeal.

Ten has argued that Lehrmann’s prospects of winning on appeal “are not strong”.

Lisa Wilkinson and Network 10 successfully defended the lawsuit. Picture: Newswire/Gaye Gerard.

The network’s barrister Dr Matt Collins KC had described Lehrmann’s grounds of appeal as hopeless and “faintly arguable”.

“There cannot seriously be any dispute that Mr Lehrmann is not in a position to satisfy any costs order made against him in the appeal proceeding,” Dr Collins wrote in his submissions, released by the court.

The court has heard that if Lehrmann is made to pay the $2m costs order, he will be tipped into bankruptcy.

Lehrmann faced trial in the ACT Supreme Court in 2022 after pleading not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

The trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges and plans for a retrial due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ welfare.

Originally published as Bruce Lehrmann to learn whether he has to stump up $200k for appeal