Brittany Higgins’ husband bankrupted by former senator
Brittany Higgins’ husband has been bankrupted by a former politician after the pair threw in the towel during a defamation battle over money concerns.
Former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has sued both her former political staffer and David Sharaz over a series of social media posts she claims damaged her reputation.
The former defense secretary scored a high-profile victory over Ms Higgins at the hearing and Mr Sharaz bowed out before the proceedings began, saying he could not afford a lawyer at the time.
Mr Sharaz, a former journalist, was found to have defamed Ms Reynolds and was ordered to pay her $85,000 in damages plus interest and costs.
Ms Higgins was ordered to pay $315,000 in damages plus $26,109 in interest and 80 per cent of her former boss’s legal costs, estimated at more than $1 million.
Ms Reynolds filed for bankruptcy against the couple in October and on Tuesday Mr Sharaz was declared bankrupt in the Federal Court in Perth.
Outside court, Ms Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett said the collapse was “a consequence of Mr Sharaz’s (Mrs Reynolds) defamation”.
“He couldn’t afford a ticket to the Titanic but he’s definitely going to get on board and go down,” she said, referring to Mr. Sharaz’s failure to defend himself against Ms. Reynolds’s libel suit.
Mr Bennett said he was not surprised Mr Sharaz did not participate in the legal proceedings.
“He is the only person who has never taken the witness stand to defend Ms Higgins’ statements,” he said, referring to his case against Ms Reynolds.
“He never cross-examined himself or opened up. He is the mysterious person who never comes forward.”
Mr Sharaz’s bankruptcy has been postponed until October 31 and his estate will be handed over to trustees for administration.
Ms Higgins was declared bankrupt last week.
Mr Bennett has previously said this would allow Ms Reynolds to find out how much of the $2.4 million in compensation Ms Higgins has paid from the Commonwealth as she seeks to recover her legal costs and damages for the libel case.
Judge Paul Tottle found in August that Ms Higgins’ social media posts contained a series of defamatory accusations following a harrowing five-week trial at the High Court.
These included that Ms. Reynolds launched a harassment campaign against Ms. Higgins, mishandled the rape allegation, and engaged in questionable behavior during Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial, which was annulled for rape.
The 360-page ruling set out factual findings about the incidents involving Ms Reynolds and Ms Higgins, including the alleged rape in 2019 and the years thereafter.
Ms Higgins alleges that her former colleague Lehrmann raped her in the senator’s ministerial office.
A Federal Court judge overseeing Lehrmann’s libel case against Network Ten found that, on the balance of probabilities, Ms Higgins had been raped by her former colleague in the office.
Lehrmann lost an appeal against this finding but flagged off taking the case to the Supreme Court.
He denies the rape allegation, and the criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.
Ms Reynolds also took legal action against the Commonwealth and its lawyers, claiming they breached a duty of care to her in their handling of Ms Higgins’ agreement.
“We still have a chapter to go in this long saga, but this is the last chapter,” Mr. Bennett said.
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