Lisa Wilkinson comes up $600,000 short in costs battle with Network Ten
Lisa Wilkinson will be forced to cover at least $600,000 of her own legal costs in defending Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation suit, after Network Ten agreed to pay just $1.15m of the estimated $1.8m she has already spent.
Lisa Wilkinson will be forced to cover at least $600,000 of her own legal costs in defending Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation suit, after Network Ten agreed to pay just $1.15m of the estimated $1.8m she has already spent.
However, the agreement on costs, revealed in orders made on Monday in the Federal Court, does not let Ten off the hook for a further round of costs Wilkinson says she is owed.
The Australian understands that the agreement does not include costs Wilkinson incurred in the three-day hearing when she cross-claimed against Ten after the network refused to pay for her separate legal representation led by top defamation silk Sue Chrysanthou SC.
The agreement also does not cover Wilkinson’s costs in the Sofronoff Inquiry, when Ms Chrysanthou cross-examined ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold over a dispute about advice he gave before her infamous Logies speech.
The former Project host will incur further costs this year as she seeks to overturn judge Michael Lee’s finding that her conduct in Ten’s Brittany Higgins story was improper and unjustifiable, claiming the judge made more than 50 errors in the case.
The Australian understands Ten warned Wilkinson before she lodged her notice that it would not fund her Federal Court challenge, which will involve further lengthy and costly proceedings.
Nevertheless, Wilkinson was pictured smiling in a Sydney cafe on Tuesday after the costs agreement was revealed, posting an image of herself to Instagram, grinning broadly with her arms in the air, under the caption “Celebration day!!”
“My number one priority this year — after a couple of pretty challenging years — is to get my health and fitness back,” the 65-year-old wrote.
“And today, for the first time in three years, I planked - and managed three and a half minutes. Pretty happy with that! A bit to go to get back to my previous record of 6 minutes, but sometimes it’s the small wins, right? And I’m getting there!!”
Lehrmann was ordered to pay $2m in costs following the failed defamation case, but was never expected to be able to pay even a fraction of that amount. During earlier costs hearings, Ten agreed to pay $558,548.30 of Wilkinson’s legal fees, which Ten has already paid. It must pay the remaining amount of $591,451.70 by March 19.
Ten was liable for Wilkinson’s legal bills under an indemnity covering costs “properly incurred and reasonable in amount”. But there was a difference in opinion between the network and the veteran journalist about what that meant.
Wilkinson opted to brief a separate legal team to represent her in the court case, headed by Ms Chrysanthou, while Ten’s team was led by Melbourne silk Matt Collins, KC.
Ms Chrysanthou billed Wilkinson $8000 for each full day in court, along with charging her $800 an hour for preparation, conferences, advice and travelling time.
Mr Lehrmann lost the multimillion-dollar defamation suit against the Ten and Wilkinson over an interview with his former colleague Ms Higgins aired on The Project in February 2021.
Justice Lee dismissed the defamation case after finding on the balance of probabilities that Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
However, Wilkinson and her employer were excoriated by Justice Lee over the standard of their journalism and their claims that the case had been the subject of a political cover-up.
In a devastating personal blow, Justice Lee found that Wilkinson had demonstrated “a lack of candour” in the witness box.
Mr Lehrmann is appealing to the Full Court of the Federal Court, with the appeal to be heard later this year.
Ms Wilkinson has filed a notice of contention with the Federal Court claiming Justice Lee made multiple errors both in his findings about her conduct and about the rape of Ms Higgins by Mr Lehrmann.
Network Ten has refused to join her bid to overturn those findings, lodging its own notice of contention, relying only on two grounds – that Justice Lee should have found that Mr Lehrmann knew Ms Higgins did not consent to having sex, and that he ought to have found that if it had been necessary to award damages, the appropriate award was nominal or no damages.
Mr Lehrmann and Wilkinson are due to file submissions in those proceedings by Friday.
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