Bruce Lehrmann has filed a last-minute appeal against a judge’s dismissal of his defamation case and finding that he likely raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.
The 28-year-old had until Friday afternoon to challenge findings in April by Justice Michael Lee that dismissed his case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
Following a long and closely watched trial, the judge found claims that Lehrmann raped Higgins in the Parliament House office of senator Linda Reynolds in March 2019 were were substantially true on the balance of probabilities.
He sued for defamation over an interview with Higgins that aired in February 2021 on Ten’s The Project.
After being given an extension of time, Lehrmann filed a notice that he planned to appeal the decision on Friday morning.
The court previously heard that he had no financial backers in his case and his lawyers had worked on a no-win, no-fee basis during the proceedings.
He is expected to be hit with a multimillion-dollar legal bill to cover Ten and Wilkinson’s costs of defending the defamation trial.
He was ordered to pay costs on an indemnity basis earlier in May after the judge found he had brought the lawsuit on a false basis and had lied to police and the jury in a criminal case which was later abandoned.
Lee has previously said Wilkinson is seeking to recoup more than $1.8 million in legal costs.
Exactly how much Ten will want to get back is not yet known.
While the defamation case is winding down, there are a number of other lawsuits still on foot stemming from Higgins’ rape claim.
These include a defamation case against Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz by Reynolds over allegations that the Liberal politician and others in parliament worked to cover up the sexual assault.
Lee found that these claims were light on facts and long on speculation, rejecting that Higgins had been forced to stay silent about the alleged crime to keep her job.
Lehrmann denies he sexually assaulted Higgins and is not facing any criminal charges over the incident after his criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.
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