Brittany Higgins to sell French getaway as she faces crippling legal costs
Less than a year after leaving Australia, Brittany Higgins has made a shock decision about her new life in France amid crippling legal costs.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Brittany Higgins is planning to sell her French home in the countryside less than a year after purchasing it to fund the million dollar fight over former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds defamation claim.
In a shock development that hints that the former Liberal staffer is in need of funds despite securing a $2.4 million compensation payout, she has conceded for the first time that what remains of her payout could be decimated by the defamation battle.
A trial could easily cost her over $1,000,000. A judge has repeatedly urged both parties to settle.
If she loses, Ms Higgins could have to pay not only her own legal fees but those of her former employer, Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds, after she alleged she was raped in her ministerial office in 2019.
In theory, a legal defeat could then leave Ms Higgins out of pocket by millions of dollars.
In a statement to news.com.au, Ms Higgins confirmed that she will be forced to sell her French home to pay for defamation lawyers.
“Brittany relocated overseas to heal and escape the online attacks she received, particularly in the wake of the Channel 7 Spotlight program,’’ a spokesperson said.
“This will be Brittany’s third court case and one of numerous legal processes surrounding her rape at Parliament House.
“The legal costs have already amounted to well over a million dollars and will continue to grow with the defamation action brought about by Senator Reynolds.
“The price of speaking out about sexual assault remains unspeakably high.
“Brittany is now forced to sell her home in order to defend herself again.”
Mr Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and was never convicted after the charge against him was dropped.
Last year the Federal Court found, on the civil standard of balance of probabilities, that Mr Lehrmann did rape Ms Higgins. He is appealing that decision.
Senator Linda Reynolds has mortgaged her house to run million dollar defamation case
Senator Reynolds legal team has previously confirmed she had mortgaged her house to fight the case which centres on a series of social media posts where Brittany Higgins criticised how her boss handled her rape allegation.
While Senator Reynolds has not confirmed how much she has spent on legal fees to date on the pursuit of alleged rape victim Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, the amount is believed to be likely to exceed $1 million if the trial proceeds.
Outside the court, her lawyer Martin Bennett said the defamation action was costing 58-year-old Reynolds “a fortune”.
“My client mortgaged her home at her age to pay for legal fees to do this to try to vindicate her reputation,” he said.
“It costs individuals a lot of money to do this.”
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over a series of social media posts on Instagram and Twitter.
Her lawyer Martin Bennett has also revealed that Senator Reynolds’ only hope of recovering her own expenditure if she wins is through accessing the trust that Ms Higgins used to purchase the French home and fund her lifestyle.
“If you’re out of pocket, and you’ve mortgaged your house to the hilt to pay for litigation, recovering those costs is something you try and do as soon as possible,’’ Mr Bennett said outside court.
“We know that from all intent and purposes, Ms Higgins leads a wonderful lifestyle of travel and events.”
In recent months, Ms Higgins has been forced to put together a huge cash deposit in place for a barrister and other legal representatives to fight the claim after mediation failed.
As a result, less than six months after she said “au revoir” to Australia, the sale of the French property raises fears that Ms Higgins and her fiancee David Sharaz are – surprisingly – under financial pressure.
If that’s true, it suggests they have spent a substantial chunk of her $2.4 million compensation payout from taxpayers in less than two years.
David Sharaz facing ‘bankruptcy’
Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer has previously predicted David Sharaz will end up “bankrupt” over the legal case and mocked Brittany Higgins’ fiance for crying poor while living in a French “chateau”.
An unemployed expat, 33, Mr Sharaz has been jobless for over a year, since he parted ways with a Brisbane radio station shortly after Senator Reynolds announced she was suing him for defamation over social media posts in early 2023.
At the time, he wrote in an Instagram post, “Going to miss the people, but I will enjoy deleting that 3:30am alarm. What’s next? No idea! (And that’s liberating.)”
Senator Reynolds’ defamation lawyer Martin Bennett said he had defamed his client and that the case against Mr Sharaz would proceed regardless of whether or not he was legally represented.
“If he’s impecunious as he asserts in France, he’ll go bankrupt,” he said.
“He defamed my client. You can jump off litigation but it’s a costly exercise.”
Senator Reynolds’ lawyer also questioned his claim that he didn’t have the resources to pay for the legal case.
“He lives in a chateau. He hasn’t got a job and he’s got a QC and a junior solicitor, two solicitors representing him,” he said.
Brittany Higgins’ $2.4 million compo deal
Brittany Higgins’ $2.4 million compo deal was paid out in December, 2022, after the collapse of the criminal trial based on juror misconduct and concerns about her mental health and ability to withstand a second trial.
Ms Higgins was awarded $2.4 million on a no admissions basis in December, 2022. She later told the Federal Court that she received $1.9 million after legal fees and taxes.
Her country house in France, which had been on the market for around a year before it was purchased, is not expected to sell in a hurry.
It was purchased for around $700,000. In theory, that would have left Ms Higgins $1.2 million from her original payout.
An engagement, a wedding, and trips to the Maldives, London, Byron Bay, Paris and the United Arab Emirates
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz rented an apartment on the Gold Coast for a year in February 2023 after securing the payout and bought a jeep in Australia and then a car in France after moving there in late 2023.
They travelled to the Maldives in December 2022, purchased an engagement ring, and were captured by paparazzi getting engaged at the top of the Byron Bay Lighthouse.
After the Maldives trip, Mr Sharaz took to Instagram to hail the trip as the best Christmas present ever.
“Brittany and I have a joke when one of us does something romantic … was Richard Gere level amazing? Well my darling, you Richard Gere’d me good. Thanks for the best Christmas present ever,’’ he wrote.
Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins have also documented trips to Paris, London, the United Arab Emirates, multiple trips back and forward to Europe and Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, including for her wedding and for legal mediation with Senator Reynolds in Perth.
She also travelled to Switzerland for an unpaid UN internship with Natasha Stott Despoja.
Since the money was awarded around Christmas 2022, Ms Higgins also spent over $100,000 on her Gold Coast wedding this month, where guests including Nova radio presenter Maddy Rowe, journalist Ginger Gorman and philanthropist Jon Dee were treated to a chicken breast with potato galette, confit tomato and shallot salsa; or beef sirloin with potato puree, mushrooms and black garlic jus – all served with roasted potatoes and a rocket salad.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz left Australia for France in December
As they prepared to move to a remote village in France, the couple said their goodbyes to friends and family at Brisbane International Airport in December, 2023.
Dressed in all white, Mr Sharaz, Ms Higgins, her mother Kelly and her father Matthew gathered at the airport.
The couple’s departure followed a tumultuous month during which Ms Higgins and both her parents were called as witnesses in the high profile defamation trial that Bruce Lehrmann has lodged against Channel Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.
Bruce Lehrmann denied sexually assaulting Ms Higgins and pleaded not guilty before a criminal trial was aborted following an allegation of juror misconduct.
Ms Higgins posted on Instagram after landing in Singapore that she would “still call Australia home.”
“No matter how far or how wide I roam, I will still call Australia home,” she wrote.
The French property is located in the tiny town of Lunas, which is a six-hour train ride from Paris and a four-hour ride from Barcelona, in Spain.
It had remained a secret until Mr Sharaz posted about their new home on Facebook using a public account with her own name, prompting hordes of paparazzi to descend on the town.
“Hello, I’m looking for someone to do some gardening for us over the next couple of months. Perhaps once or twice a fortnight,’’ Mr Sharaz wrote on October 2, 2023.
“We’re in Lunas.”
Originally published as Brittany Higgins to sell French getaway as she faces crippling legal costs
Drivers win as Minns bans ticketless parking fines
Councils will be forced to go back to leaving a note - or a sticker - when stinging motorists for illegal parking.
Read more
‘Megaphone of the left’: Backlash against ABC fake news
The ABC is under fire over ‘fake’ gunshots added to a story about serious war crime allegations by Australian soldiers, as a former chairman of the national broadcaster accuses it of being a ‘self-serving collective’.
Read more