Cost of Bruce Lehrmann's failed defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson set to be astronomically high

What happened between Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in a ministerial suite at Parliament House on March 23 2019 has triggered at least a dozen avenues of legal action – so far.

Justice Michael Lee, who found Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins on the balance of probabilities, labelled the fallout an “omnishambles”.

The collateral damage has affected the reputations of nearly all touched by the case, including Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins.

Even the man who prosecuted Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial – the ACT’s former top prosecutor Shane Drumgold – has lost his job after a damaging inquiry.

But the legal costs of all this litigation are set to be astronomical.

Wilkinson’s cost dispute suggests a high starting point

A hint about just how expensive the exercise has been came when Lisa Wilkinson took on Network Ten over a dispute over the cost of her own personal lawyers employed to fight the defamation case.

Ms Wilkinson had engaged top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou.

When Ms Wilkinson’s challenge was lodged last year in the NSW Supreme Court, documents revealed the cost was already above $700,000.

That was well before the defamation trial, which ran for more than five weeks.

Ms Wilkinson’s costs challenge was eventually moved to the Federal Court.

When Justice Lee heard the case, he found Ms Wilkinson was entitled to her own lawyers in the case, and her employer Network Ten would have to pay “reasonable” costs.

When the costs hearing starts next week, one of the issues to be resolved will be the quantum of those reasonable costs — with the court already foreshadowing that a mediator may be required to assess the scale.

Costs in the millions

It’s unclear what sort of costs Network Ten will be chasing to pay several senior lawyers, including barrister Matthew Collins who led their case.

“The costs to Ten would be very, very significant,” media legal expert Peter Bartlett said.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s approaching $8 million.”

Mr Bartlett represented Nine Entertainment in their defence of the Ben Roberts-Smith claim, which went for 110 days and cost some $30 million.

“But I think they both have similarities in that there were different revelations coming out in both trials, every single day,” he said.

“Senior Counsel are now charging probably a minimum of about $12,000 a day.”

Bruce Lehrmann will ‘probably be bankrupt’

One thing which might diminish Network Ten’s eventual award could be that while the judge found their truth defence was sound, he was highly critical of The Project program.

Either way, the court heard evidence during the proceedings that alluded to reports that Bruce Lehrmann, who is currently unemployed, was not a well-off man.

“We don’t know whether he was using solicitors who are acting pro bono or using solicitors and barristers who were acting ‘no-win, no-fee’,” Mr Bartlett said.

“But you would anticipate that he doesn’t have a deep pocket.”

Mr Bartlett said it would be very difficult for Network Ten to recover very much from Mr Lehrmann unless, like in the case of Mr Roberts-Smith, the parties were able to prove he had third-party funding.

So in the end, the argument could be over the award of costs as a matter of principle, rather than money that may never be received.

Another expert, University of Sydney Law School Emeritus Professor Barbara McDonald, said there was one outcome more likely than any other.

“He’ll probably be bankrupted,” she said.

At the end of the day, Ms McDonald said, the case presented key takeaways for prospective plaintiffs.

“I think many people, dating back to Oscar Wilde, would rue the day that they commenced defamation proceedings — and that’s for their reputation sake, let alone for the financial and the impact on their life and those around them.”

“In the end, your reputation might be worse than it was before you started.

The parties have until April 22 to file submissions for costs.