The battle over millions of dollars in legal costs in Bruce Lehrmann's failed defamation case is back in the Federal Court in Sydney today. He accused network ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson of defaming him during an interview when Brittany Higgins claimed she'd been raped. Ten and Ms Wilkinson won the case when justice Michael Lee found Mr Lehrmann had on the balance of probabilities raped Ms Higgins.
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00:00Well, this legal action has been going since it was filed in March last year, so that's
00:06more than 12 months of expensive legal bills, and that is going to be what will be determined
00:12today.
00:13So, as you said, Bruce Luman brought this defamation action himself.
00:16He alleged that he was defamed in an interview on The Project in 2021, where Brittany Higgins
00:24said that she was raped at Parliament House.
00:27Now, the matter went to criminal trial and was never finished because of juror misconduct,
00:31and there was no findings against him.
00:34So, Mr Luman brought this defamation action himself, but it did fail, as you say, so when
00:39the Federal Court decided on the balance of probabilities that he did rape Brittany Higgins.
00:4510 is, of course, as a result of that, arguing that Bruce Luman should pay all the legal
00:50costs, particularly because Mr Luman rejected an offer to settle, as we've heard in August
00:57last year.
00:58Mr Luman has submitted that he wants a more balanced approach to this, because not all
01:04of 10's defences were found to be correct, so Mr Luman is arguing, I guess, that he shouldn't
01:10have to pay all of the costs.
01:13It's not just an argument between 10 and Bruce Luman over costs, is it?
01:17What else is being decided today?
01:19It's also Lisa Wilkinson's costs, as we know they had separate lawyers.
01:24There is an initial estimate that Ms Wilkinson's costs alone are about $700,000.
01:31Ms Wilkinson, of course, would like Bruce Luman to pay all of it, but if Bruce Luman
01:35doesn't, there may be some costs which she has to incur, and she would like 10 to be
01:41liable for some of those costs as well.
01:44In its submission, 10 has argued that many of the points that they made, and that Lisa
01:50Wilkinson made in this case in the end, were actually the same, and they don't want to
01:54have to pay essentially for making the same arguments.
01:58But all of this will be determined by Justice Lee this afternoon.
02:02He may give a decision straight away, or he may reserve a decision, so we may find out
02:06the actual answer at a later date.