Lisa Wilkinson ‘refusing to hand over invoices’, court documents reveal

Former host of The Project is refusing to relinquish invoices from Bruce Lehrmann defamation battle, as questions are raised over how lawyers racked up a $700,000 bill.

Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins.

Lisa Wilkinson is refusing to hand over the invoices of the star-studded legal team representing her in a defamation battle with former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, new court documents reveal, as questions are raised over how the lawyers racked up a $700,000 bill in less than eight months.

The court documents were filed as part of a dispute between the television personality and her employer, in which she claims Network Ten is failing to properly indemnify her in the defamation action brought by Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann is suing Network 10 and Wilkinson over an interview she conducted with Brittany Higgins that aired on The Project in 2021, detailing accusations Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House, but not naming him as the alleged attacker.

Wilkinson hired top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC and Gillis Delaney Lawyers partner Anthony Jefferies in February to defend her against Mr Lehrmann’s defamation action, and in doing so, she opted out of using Thomson Geer – a law firm Network 10 has on retainer.

In a suit filed to the NSW Supreme Court, Wilkinson claims Network 10 is refusing to pay two invoices – one for $353,538.88 in May, the second for $370,017.00 in September – to cover Ms Chrysanthou and Mr Jefferies’ legal fees to date.

The new documents show Network 10’s disdain for Wilkinson’s decision to hire separate legal representation in the matter, saying the costs cited by her lawyers were “not reasonably incurred”.

“(Network 10) maintains its view that it is not necessary or reasonable for the plaintiff to be separately represented in the proceeding, such that the costs incurred by reason of that decision are not reasonably incurred,” the documents read.

Lisa Wilkinson announces her resignation from The Project. Picture Supplied

Wilkinson is arguing the network should pay the costs as they are incurred, however Network 10 says the costs should be paid in a lump sum payment when the matter is resolved, and only if the costs incurred are reasonable.

Network 10 claims to have not been provided a “complete record” of Ms Chrysanthou’s invoices for the same period of time to which her solicitor’s fees relate, and says the invoices provided so far “do not identify with adequate specificity the tasks to which entries of time relate.”

“The plaintiff (Wilkinson) continues to refuse to comply with requests made by the defendant for copies of costs estimates provided to the plaintiff, CVs of the solicitors working on the matter, and costs agreements of counsel,” the documents read.

“The defendant (Network 10) will be best positioned to assess the reasonableness of the costs incurred at the conclusion of the proceeding.”

In a letter sent to Wilkinson on June 21 - four months after she had hired Ms Chrysanthou and Mr Jefferies - Network Ten’s lawyers indicated their preliminary view that “legal costs of over $375,000 were unlikely to be reasonable for the limited steps taken in the proceeding so far.”

“Substantial work undertaken on behalf of the plaintiff was unnecessarily duplicative of the defendant’s work in defending the proceeding,” Network Ten claims.

“The level of detail provided in the solicitor invoices did not allow the defendant to adequately assess the nature and level of the work undertaken.”

The NSW Supreme Court last week heard Network Ten planned to transfer the case to the Federal Court, so it could be heard by Justice Michael Lee alongside Lehrmann’s defamation case.

The matter will return to court on Thursday.