Peter FitzSimons seeks costs from Bruce Lehrmann for defamation case subpoena

The columnist has asked the Federal Court to order the former staffer to pay costs associated with producing documents relating to Brittany Higgins’ $325,000 book deal.

Peter FitzSimons, left, is seeking costs from Bruce Lehrmann for producing documents relating to Brittany Higgins’ book deal.

Columnist Peter FitzSimons has asked the Federal Court to make Bruce Lehrmann pay his costs for producing documents relating to Brittany Higgins’ $325,000 book deal during the former Liberal staffer’s defamation battle against Network 10 and television presenter Lisa Wilkinson.

Lawyers for FitzSimons made an application on March 14, released by the court on Tuesday, requesting Justice Michael Lee order Mr Lehrmann pay costs incurred by FitzSimons when responding to a subpoena.

FitzSimons was issued the subpoena in June last year to produce documents relating to the deal he helped broker between Ms Higgins and Penguin Random House.

Justice Lee will determine whether the costs will be awarded after he delivers his judgment of the defamation proceedings on April 4.

FitzSimons, a well-known author and writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, is married to Wilkinson, who is the second respondent in the matter.

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.

Mr Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence, and says no sexual intercourse ever took place between him and Ms Higgins.

During the aborted rape trial of Mr Lehrmann in 2022, it emerged that prominent author FitzSimons had negotiated the advance for Ms Higgins’s book. Industry sources suggested publisher Penguin Random House hoped to sell at least 100,000 copies at $29.99 each.

Ms Higgins, during Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial, said she was approached by FitzSimons and Wilkinson at an event where FitzSimons offered to act as her agent.

“I really didn’t ask him, he absolutely approached me,” she said.

Ms Higgins said “within a day” FitzSimons told her he had an offer for $325,000 for a book outlining her experiences.

“I just felt I needed to document my experience,” she said.

The court heard Ms Higgins responded by saying she had the chapters outlined for “the last month or so”. When asked if the chapters were outlined before she gave a formal interview to police, Ms Higgins said: “Yes.”

The judgment for the landmark case battle 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.

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