Lisa Wilkinson faces legal bills of up to $1 million
The TV star who was previously revealed to be “hysterical” about her legal bills is likely to be left out of pocket.
Lisa Wilkinson’s fight to defend the truth of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation is set to leave her hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket after she insisted on hiring independent legal counsel.
The former TV host believed she had won a big victory against her employer when Channel 10 was forced by the Federal Court to pay her “reasonable” legal bills in February.
But it’s now emerged the wrangling continues and the gap between what she’s spent and what Ten will actually pay currently stands at over $1 million.
Legal sources remain confident that Channel 10 will be required to pay more to reduce that gap. Even then, Wilkinson is expected to pay a high price for her defence and the gap is likely to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars even in a best-case scenario.
It emerged in the Federal court on Thursday that Network Ten has agreed to pay only $558,000. That’s a fraction of the $1.8 million that her legal team told the Federal Court she has spent.
The remaining amount will now go to an independent referee to determine whether a higher or lower amount is payable based on the $558,000.
Separately, Wilkinson will also be awarded legal costs from her successful cross claim against Channel 10 of an estimated $500,000 and remains on full pay since she last appeared on air in late 2022.
Ten’s barrister Zoe Graus told Justice Lee on Thursday that if an external referee finds Wilkinson’s costs were less than the agreed $558,548, she would also have to pay the network back.
“Your Honour will see that the order below is that should the referee determine the amount is less, that Ms Wilkinson would repay it to us,” Ms Graus said.
“We’re not willing to commit to a judgment sum of that amount today.”
Wilkinson was represented by law firm Gillis Delaney Lawyers, which charges $750 per hour, and top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, who charges $8,000 per day.
Whether or not Ms Wilkinson is left out of pocket now rests on whether her solicitor Gills Delaney Law or Ms Chrysanthou SC choose to pursue her for the balance.
Separately, Channel 10 will also be required to pay her costs for her cross claim against her employer that she won, which is expected to add another $500,000 to what the network will pay for Wilkinson’s legal costs.
The TV broadcaster’s decision to hire her own legal team for a defamation trial and ask her employer to pay for it has sparked tension behind the scenes for months.
In previous submissions to the court, Network 10’s lawyer Matt Collins KC argued it was not required to reimburse Ms Wilkinson for costs incurred “in an unnecessarily duplicative or wasteful manner”.
“Ms Wilkinson was not entitled to incur costs … as she pleased on the assumption that Network 10 would ultimately pick up the bill,” he wrote.
“She was required to incur costs in a responsible manner, having regard to how those costs might be minimised given the separate but related work being undertaken by Network 10.”
Wilkinson ‘gutted’ by Channel 10’s ‘cruel’ approach
In an affidavit tendered to the court, Ms Wilkinson has previously said she was “gutted” by her employer’s “cruel” and “disingenuous” decision not to cover her legal expenses.
She explained she had engaged her own lawyers to defend her in the defamation suit after she lost faith in the legal team employed by Network 10, who she felt had “abandoned” her.
Ms Wilkinson’s lawyer Michael Elliot has also previously expressed his frustration at the network.
“There’s just an ongoing reluctance to pay us anything,” Mr Elliott said.
The TV broadcaster’s decision to hire her own legal team for the defamation trial and ask her employer to pay for it, has sparked tension behind the scenes for months.
Ten’s barrister, Mr Collins KC, has argued in submissions that Wilkinson “was not entitled to incur costs in respect of her separate interests as she pleased on the assumption that Network Ten would ultimately pick up the bill”.
On February 14, Justice Michael Lee ruled that Wilkinson’s decision to hire her own silk and solicitors was reasonable and she won the fight – but the wrangling wasn’t over.
“In all circumstances it was reasonable for Ms Wilkinson to retain separate lawyers,’’ Justice Lee said in February, 2024.
“And accordingly, the question becomes where do we go from there.”
However, the fine detail of how much Ten would pay had to wait until the outcome of the case, with Channel 10 ultimately winning the truth defence, with Bruce Lehrmann declared a rapist on the balance of probabilities.
Wilkinson ‘hysterical’ over legal fees
During the cross claim, the Federal Court heard Wilkinson was “almost hysterical” and “sobbing” last year as she detailed her fears she would have to sell her multimillion-dollar Cremorne mansion to pay her legal fees. That was according to her boss, Network Ten CEO Beverley McGarvey.
The new trove of court documents also revealed the TV host had a $100,000 annual wardrobe allowance, which was then slashed to $40,000 after November 18, 2022, when she was “removed” as a regular host on The Project.
In a briefing note prepared for Ten’s legal team, Ms McGarvey details a “challenging” call she had with the network star on June 7, 2023.
“Lisa was very upset and emotional and it was a very challenging call,” McGarvey wrote.
“She was almost immediately upset and started talking about legal fees and how she would have to sell her house.
“I would say her tone was almost hysterical.”
But the Ten CEO then made a series of observations about the value of her Cremorne family home.
“She is being paid by us on full salary, and lives in a lavish multimillion dollar home with a pool and a tennis court and harbour views, so I hope this is not a real risk,” she said.
“She asked if we would pay for her fees and this came up over and over again in the conversation. I told her to talk with Nick, her manager.”
Wilkinson’s Logies speech, which sparked a delay to the criminal trial, was central to the legal argument, with the host arguing she was given the green light by Ten’s lawyers to give the speech.
She then said was shocked that her employer refused to publicly detail the advice upon which she was acting.
As a result, she said she lost confidence in the legal advice, and her employer, in safeguarding her interests.
‘Irrational claims about our choice of lawyers’
Documents also revealed Ms Wilkinson was upset that Thomson Geer, the media lawyers acting for Ten, also acted for News Corp, the parent company of news.com.au.
“She made irrational claims about our choice of lawyers because they worked for News Corp,” Ms McGarvey claims in her briefing note.
“She seemed to imply although it was confusing that she thought that meant our lawyers were feeding stories to News Corp.
“It should be noted the lawyers she has chosen have represented Lachlan Murdoch and also News Corp.
“She was very angry at me and very upset at others sobbing so much she could not talk. The recurring theme was that she did not believe we were supporting her.
“She asked what moment it all went wrong. I assured her there was no moment. She asked what she had done to me and what she had done to make me or someone at the network hate her.”
Ms McGarvey said Wilkinson was extremely upset and raised her voice several times “about how we have not stopped all the bad press about her.”
“It has destroyed her reputation. She gave some confusing examples,” Ms McGarvey said.
“She believes the Logies was the moment it became untenable and she blames us for that.
“I told her I found her comments offensive and we did care about her and our brand. I generally stayed calm. However in several moments I found myself agitated and had to take breaths to calm down.
“She said the Spotlight programme was disgraceful. And I agreed, noting Bruce (Lehrmann) had the right to his say, but they used material they obtained from a source unknown to us.”
She said Ms Wilkinson was annoyed that the material leaked.
“I explained that material had been subpoenaed from us.” Ms McGarvey said. “She said we told her the material was confidential. I told her that was true. And as far as we could tell, there was no legal way for the material to change hands.
“She in no way feels she has done anything wrong at all.”
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