Brittany Higgins will no longer fight her defamation loss in the WA Supreme Court
Brittany Higgins will no longer fight defamation damages in the WA Supreme Court and has withdrawn her appeal a week after her former boss Linda Reynolds filed bankruptcy proceedings against her.
Ms Higgins was ordered to pay the former senator $340,000 and 80 per cent of Ms Reynolds’ legal costs after losing a defamation lawsuit brought by her former boss.
Ms Higgins filed a notice of absence with the WA Supreme Court this week.
Judge Paul Tottle found Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz had defamed Ms Reynolds in a series of social media posts.
Mr Sharaz was also served with a bankruptcy notice by Ms Reynolds.
There were posts published by the duo in 2022 and 2023, alleging that the retired politician mishandled the rape allegation of his young employee.
Ms Higgins claimed she was raped by her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the senator’s office in Parliament House; Lehrmann continues to deny the claim.
Judge Tottle said much of the evidence from the libel case was directed at an allegation of conspiracy, particularly the harm suffered by Ms Reynolds in 2021 before the publication of defamatory social media posts by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz.
Court documents revealed Ms Higgins had offered Ms Reynolds a $200,000 settlement payment four days before the trial began but was rejected.
He also sought to cap Ms. Reynolds’ attorney fees at $781 per hour, but his former boss argued that the attorney fees should be paid and that they should include the costs of two attorneys, a limited practitioner and a paralegal.
Judge Tottle said the settlement offer made to Ms Reynolds was unreasonable and that the $200,000 would only add to the costs.
He said the offer did not justify Ms Reynolds’ reputation.
Ms Reynolds argued that the joint statement prepared by Ms Higgins did not accept liability, did not contain an apology and said nothing other than that the parties had agreed to disagree.
Judge Tottle also found that Ms Higgins made several false statements about being involved in a cover-up operation when she went public with Ms Reynolds’ allegations.
