Judge urges Linda Reynolds, David Sharaz to settle social media suit
Linda Reynolds and David Sharaz – the fiancee of the senator’s former employee, Brittany Higgins – have been ordered to continue peace talks in a defamation case over social media posts.
Linda Reynolds and the fiancee of her former employee Brittany Higgins have been ordered to continue peace talks in a bid to minimise the “human cost of litigation” in a defamation case over social media posts.
Senator Reynolds is pursuing David Sharaz for damages, as well as aggravated damages, over five social media posts, and has requested an injunction preventing the material from surfacing in the future.
During a two-hour hearing in WA‘s Supreme Court this week, Mr Sharaz’s lawyer, Jason MacLaurin, pushed for Senator Reynolds to pay a six-figure security bond to the court if her case against the former journalist failed.
Mr MacLaurin told the court that as Senator Reynolds was also suing Ms Higgins for defamation, he had concerns she would not be in a position to pay his client‘s costs should she lose.
The request was dismissed by Justice Marcus Solomon on Friday.
“If these proceedings continue to their natural conclusion, the costs will be very significant, perhaps crippling, and possibly beyond Senator Reynolds’ means,” Justice Solomon said.
He also rejected a claim of indemnity brought by Senator Reynolds seeking $28,000 from Mr Sharaz – a move Mr MacLaurin claimed was “dripping in irony”.
Mr MacLaurin also said Senator Reynolds brought on a “manifestly weak” case of defamation, adding the comments Mr Sharaz published were a ”drop in the ocean” in a sea of negative publicity, citing articles published by a variety of publications including The Guardian Australia, The New York Times and another quoting Senator Jacqui Lambie calling for Senator Reynolds to quit politics.
Justice Solomon was not persuaded by the argument.
“A call for resignation from a rival politician hardly stands out as remarkable,” Justice Solomon said.
Mr MacLaurin also requested the case be moved to the ACT, as Mr Sharaz has no connection to WA, a request that Senator Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, emphatically opposed.
Mr Bennett said vindication and the restoration of her reputation, not “making a fortune”, was central to Senator Reynolds’ claim.
“The facts plainly show that Reynolds’ reputation in Western Australia is vital to her, she’s always lived here, her family and friends are here, and she’s dependent on her party selecting her in a winnable seat on the senate ticket – the greatest harm to her would occur in WA,” Mr Bennett told the court.
Counsel for Mr Sharaz is yet to submit an application for the case to be transferred to another jurisdiction.
On Thursday, and again on Friday in his judgment, Justice Solomon encouraged Senator Reynolds and Mr Sharaz to appear in person and head to mediation, telling both parties to consider not only the financial burden of litigation, but also the “human cost”.
“It’s not just about the financial cost, I’m very mindful of the human cost to everybody of this litigation,“ Justice Solomon told the court.
“I will ensure the court makes resources available to facilitate settlement of this matter and if it assists, if there is anything the court can do to facilitate a settlement of the other proceedings, I will ensure the court does whatever it can to settle it.
“No one should imagine they can remain immune from the psychological stress and emotional pain of litigation of this nature. The human cost too can be crippling, sometimes insurmountable. As in all matters, the court urges, and is anxious to assist the parties to explore means of resolving the dispute without the necessity of a trial,” Justice Solomon said.
During the drawn-out and numerous legal battles since Ms Higgins accused Bruce Lehrmann of sexual assault – her former colleague in Senator Reynolds‘ office when she was defence minister, both Ms Higgins and Senator Reynolds were hospitalised.
Mr Lehrmann denies the allegations.
The hearing will resume in September.
More Coverage
Weak government response means anti-Semites are winning
The Albanese government must now assume Australia’s Jewish community is under active terrorist attack and set up an Operation Sovereign Borders-type multi-agency campaign to combat the deadly rise of anti-Semitism.
Rise of local terror demands better from our leaders
The scourge of anti-Semitism in Australia has become a runaway train that now demands a radically escalated counter-terror mindset from federal and state governments, police and spy agencies.