Judgement for Bruce Lehrmann, Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson defamation battle to be handed down

Justice Michael Lee has alerted parties and media that his very lengthy judgement in the landmark defamation battle will soon be handed down.

The judgment in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation suit will be handed down on April 4.

The judgment for a landmark defamation battle between former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, Network 10 and veteran television presenter Lisa Wilkinson will be handed down on April 4.

Justice Michael Lee alerted parties and media late Wednesday afternoon that he would hand down what is expected to be a very lengthy decision early next month, which will determine whether Mr Lehrmann was defamed by the television network and Wilkinson when they aired an interview with alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins.

He will likely deliver a short verbal judgment on April 4, with longer reasons to be published for the public in full.

Mr Lehrmann sued Ten and Wilkinson over her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project in 2021, detailing accu­sations that Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins but not naming him as the alleged attacker.

Lisa Wilkinson pictured with her silk Sue Chrysanthou SC.

Ten and Wilkinson have relied on a defence of truth, in an attempt to prove Mr Lehrmann sexually assaulted Ms Higgins on the couch of Senator Reynolds in Parliament House in the early hours of the morning on March 23, 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins.

Justice Lee must decide whether, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins. If he finds the rape did occur, Network Ten and Wilkinson would claim victory, and would seek to have Lehrmann pay their substantial legal costs – likely to run into many millions.

If Justice Lee finds on the balance of probabilities, that no sexual contact occurred between the two – as Mr Lehrmann testified – and he did not rape Brittany Higgins, he must decide how much compensation or damages Mr Lehrmann should be paid by Wilkinson and Ten.

If Justice Lee finds the pair did have sex, but it was consensual, or that Mr Lehrmann did not understand Ms Higgins was not consenting, that means he would effectively have found Mr Lehrmann to be a liar. Ten has argued in this case, the damages should only be a nominal amount such as $1, because they say Mr Lehrmann has lied at various times throughout this saga.

Ten and Wilkinson also have a second defence of qualified privilege, arguing Wilkinson and The Project production team properly fulfilled their obligations in preparing the story.

Brittany Higgins at the Federal Court.

Justice Lee must consider this as a ‘reasonableness’ defence: that is, was it reasonable to publish the allegations, even if the judge does not find them to be true? This will turn on all the efforts Ten and Wilkinson made (or did not make) to establish the truth of Higgins’ claims.

If Justice Lee finds Ten and Wilkinson were reasonable, this could either reduce the amount of damages Mr Lehrmann is awarded if the truth defence fails, or it could mean an outright victory for Ten and Wilkinson.

Click here to sign up to Ipso Facto, The Australian’s weekly legal affairs newsletter.