Thomson Geer

Bruce Lehrmann has been given extra time to file any appeal of a ruling he raped colleague Brittany Higgins but in the meantime the former political staffer must hand over information on who funded his defamation case against Network Ten, which is likely to see him on the hook for millions of dollars in costs.

A judge has rejected a bid to keep the settlement sum under wraps in a class action against Nine over its coverage of litigation related to the 2004 Palm Island riots, noting that a “ballpark” figure is already open to be deduced from the settlement deed. 

Bruce Lehrmann has agreed to pay author Peter FitzSimons’ costs of complying with a subpoena in the former Liberal staffer’s failed defamation case against Network Ten and FitzSimons’ wife Lisa Wilkinson.

Network Ten has argued accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann should pay indemnity costs from the date he launched his unsuccessful defamation case, saying he brought it on a “deliberately wicked and calculated basis”.

A judge has retroactively validated the appointment of BDO as auditor for litigation funder Omni Bridgeway after EY resigned due to a class action conflict, saying the failure to seek shareholder approval for the appointment was not the result of a blatant disregard for its obligations. 

A judge has found that former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in ex-defence minister Linda Reynolds’ ministerial office, saying he was “indifferent to her consent”, despite finding both witnesses had credit issues. 

A judge has criticised a Network Ten solicitor who signed off on former presenter Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech, given on the eve Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial, saying she had failed to appreciate her duties to the court.

Attacks at trial on the credibility of Bruce Lehrmann hit their target, but it’s still his case to lose on Monday morning, when judgment is delivered on his defamation claims against Ten. Throughout the case the network has borne the burden of proving Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation was true, and it is the very seriousness of that allegation that made the task harder.

A master chronology of the events on the night Bruce Lerhmann allegedly raped former policital staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House reveals federal police had concerns that Higgins may have been drugged.

A judge has questioned the relevance of an ex-Seven producer’s “sordid” evidence that the network rewarded him after using company funds to buy sex workers for the accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann, saying both sides had made strong arguments against his and Brittany Higgins’ credibility.