‘Vindicated’ Linda Reynolds takes Commonwealth, HWL Ebsworth to court over Brittany Higgins’ $2.4m settlement
Linda Reynolds is constantly being approached by people backing her relentless pursuit of reputation repair, even overseas, her lawyer says.
After the former Liberal senator won her epic defamation case against Brittany Higgins in August, she pushed ahead with moves to have her former staffer and husband David Sharaz declared bankrupt, in a bid to secure huge damages and court costs.
And on Wednesday, the ex-politician had her first case management hearing in the Federal Court against the Commonwealth’s $2.4 million settlement with Ms Higgins.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The payment was over Ms Higgins’ claim her former boss mishandled her allegation she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House in Canberra in 2019.
The mishandling allegation was at the heart of the defamation case, centred on social media posts by the couple in 2022 and 2023.
Ms Reynolds was now feeling “reputationally, very much vindicated”, her lawyer Martin Bennett told reporters outside court.
“And that’s reflected in the fact that she can’t walk in public without people stopping her and telling her how much they admired her tenacity,” Mr Bennett said.
“She was overseas for some defence matters and people were uniform in their congratulations to her.
“Now it’s just a matter of seeking financial vindication.”
The next court hearing on the bankruptcy bid for Ms Higgins is on November 18 and December 16 for Mr Sharaz.
No next court date has yet been set for Ms Reynolds’ fight with the Federal Government and the legal firm it engaged to handle the settlement, HWL Ebsworth, while an amended statement of claim is lodged.
Ms Reynolds, who was not present in court on Wednesday, has argued Ms Higgins’ allegations about her were defensible but she was entirely excluded from the process.
Mr Bennett said the settlement “gave rise to a perception that everything that Brittany Higgins ... (said) about her was true”.
“So this is the last matter to resolve,” he said.
“They’ll have a period of time until December to work out whether or not they apply to try and strike it out for summary judgment, and if not, they’ll put on defences ... by 6 February or something along those lines.
“It’s a simplified claim to try and press it through - essentially a negligence action.”
On Ms Higgins’ reported claims she had no money left, Mr Bennett said he would “deal with it at face value”.
The Federal Government is being represented by Ruth Higgins SC and HWL Ebsworth by solicitor Natalie Donnan, who both appeared via videolink.
Mr Lehrmann continues to maintain his innocence after his 2022 rape trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and the charge was then dropped.
In a subsequent defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson that he lost in 2024, he was found to have raped Ms Higgins, based on the balance of probabilities, which is the standard of proof in civil cases.
He is appealing that finding.
