Amber Harrison suffers setback as Federal Court bid denied

Legal drama returns to NSW Supreme Court where judged rules the case against Seven West Media should remain.

Amber Harrison, left, and Tim Worner.

Amber Harrison — the former lover of Seven West Media boss Tim Worner — has suffered a major setback in her legal battle against the media company after her attempt to move the case to the federal court was rejected.

The legal battle between Seven West Media and former executive assistant Amber Harrison — who was involved with a sex scandal with the company’s chief Tim Worner — will remain in the Supreme Court.

Seven has been pursuing Ms Harrison through the Supreme Court to permanently gag her from publishing confidential details about the company and details of her affair with Mr Worner which includes allegations of drug-taking and misuse of company funds. Those claims have been denied by Seven.

Seven wanted the case to stay in the Supreme Court but high profile human rights lawyer Julian Burnside — who is representing Ms Harrison — wanted the case transferred to the Federal Court where the former executive assistant is suing Seven under the Fair Work Act for having failed to provide a safe place of employment.

The legal drama was back in the NSW Supreme Court today where Justice John Sackar ruled that the case should remain with him.

Last week, Seven’s legal team argued that Ms Harrison should not be allowed to sue the company in the Federal Court because she signed an “extremely broad” release promising not to take legal action.

Mr Burnside however argued that jurisdiction for her cross claim — which relates to Seven having failed to provide a safe place of employment for Ms Harrison — should be transferred to the Federal Court in Melbourne where employment matters are heard.

Mr Burnside was not present in court for today’s judgment.

Seven took legal action to gag Ms Harrison, a former executive assistant at the media company, after she went public with embarrassing details of her affair with Mr Worner.

Last month she launched a counterclaim in the Federal Court in Victoria against the company to have all aspects of the legal stoush transferred from the Supreme Court in Sydney to be heard alongside her counterclaim in Victoria.

Seven West Media welcomed the NSW Supreme Court’s decision today and said it would continue working towards the final hearing which will commence on July 10.

The media company has also lodged an application to strike out the Melbourne Federal Court applications made by Ms Harrison.