Linda Reynolds seeks French advice as Brittany Higgins shares snippets of new life in France
Brittany Higgins responds to former boss Linda Reynolds’ bid to seek French legal advice, saying she won’t be “bullied”.
Brittany Higgins has hit back after her former boss Linda Reynolds doubled down in her bid to freeze the 29-year-old’s assets, claiming “bullying” won’t work.
On Friday, it was revealed the West Australian senator and former defence minister has sought advice from a French lawyer about whether she can enforce a judgment made by an Australian court against assets in France should she win her defamation case against her former employee and her fiance David Sharaz in the state’s Supreme Court over a number of social media posts.
“I’m considering my position and awaiting advice from French counsel on my right to enforce an Australian judgment against assets in France,” Senator Reynolds said, declining to comment further.
Waking up in her new French home on Saturday, Ms Higgins responded to the news by
telling her more than 65,000 Instagram followers she wouldn’t be “bullied” by her former employer.
“I’m not the same naive 25-year-old girl from Parliament House,” Ms Higgins wrote on her Instagram stories, sharing a screenshot of the media coverage about Ms Reynolds legal bid on Saturday.
“You don’t scare me anymore and I won’t be bullied.”
The legal battle comes after the former Liberal staffer used some of her $2.4m taxpayer-funded compensation payout to move to France.
Late last year, amid reports the couple was planning to move to France, Senator Reynolds told Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier that if they were true, her legal team would “consider that an application for freezing orders is appropriate”.
Ms Higgins bought a home in the small southern French town of Lunas and left Australia just before Christmas.
This week, she took to Instagram to share pictures from the first few weeks of the couple’s new life in France.
Mr Zwier, as Ms Higgins’ legal representative, was contacted for comment.
Ms Higgins received a $2.4m compensation payout from the federal government in December 2022 over her allegations fellow former staffer Bruce Lehrmann had raped her in Senator Reynolds’ office in 2019.
Mr Lehrmann has continually maintained his innocence and no findings have ever been made against him after the initial trial was dismissed.
Mr Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over The Project’s 2021 story that published Ms Higgins’ allegations.
Justice Michael Lee has yet to deliver the judgment.
It was during that trial that the full details of Ms Higgins’ settlement were released.
According to the claim, the “hurt, distress and humiliation” Ms Higgins experience was valued at $400,000; past and future domestic assistance cost $100,000; and medical expenses cost $220,000. A further $245,000 was paid for legal fees, and $1.48m for lost wages.
Senator Reynolds has also referred the payment to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz flew to Europe before Christmas after the former political staffer spent days in the witness box giving evidence in Mr Lehrmann’s defamation case.
Senator Reynolds’ defamation case will return to the WA Supreme Court this month, with a mediation conference scheduled for March. All parties have been urged to resolve the issue before going to trial.
Senator Reynolds is also suing the ACT government and former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold for defamation over a letter he wrote in which she was accused of “disturbing conduct” during Mr Lehrmann’s rape trial.
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