Brittany Higgins’ bankruptcy order delayed by court technicality
The decision on whether to declare Brittany Higgins’ bankruptcy has been postponed due to court technical issues.
Higgins and her husband David Sharaz have been ordered to pay more than $341,000 in damages and possibly more than $1 million in legal fees to Higgins’s former boss, former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, following a libel lawsuit she filed against the couple.
Former WA senator Linda Reynolds and her lawyer Martin Bennett appeared in court during the libel trial against Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz last year.Credit: Trevor Collens
Judge Paul Tottle found in August that Higgins and Sharaz’s social media posts conveyed an accusation that Reynolds and his office planned to “cover up” the alleged rape of Higgins by colleague and parliamentary staffer Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019.
But Tottle said Reynolds and his team supported Higgins appropriately following the allegation.
In the Federal Court on Tuesday, Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett said his client had not seen a penny of the money owed to him, despite Higgins being awarded $2.4 million in compensation from the Commonwealth in 2022 for the handling of the rape complaint.
“Ms Higgins took $2.4 million from taxpayers and did not pay a penny towards the judgment, so [Reynolds] “He is incredibly disappointed,” he said.
“In fact, Ms. Higgins says she personally has no money left, so where is the $2.4 million? That is the question.”
Reynolds initiated bankruptcy proceedings against both Higgins and Sharaz.
However, Bennett said it was agreed that Higgins would be notified through his Perth-based lawyer for reasons of his mental health and his desire to deal with the matter at a “distanced” distance.
