Trial looms in Senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation case against former staffer Brittany Higgins

A major defamation trial between Brittany Higgins and her former boss Senator Linda Reynolds has finally been given a start date of August 2.

Legal teams representing Ms Higgins and the senator met for another directions hearing in the WA Supreme Court on Wednesday to set a start date for the proceedings.

For the first time during the defamation case Ms Higgins’ newly appointed Perth-based counsel Rachel Young SC and Kate Peterson were present at court.

She was also represented by Teresa Ward and Leon Zwier who attended the hearing via a link from Melbourne.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

The timetable will be amended to accommodate witnesses who have parliamentary sitting dates during the trial.

Parties have been at odds over the start of the trial with lawyers representing Ms Reynolds wanting to go ahead on the scheduled date of July 24, but lawyers representing Ms Higgins keen to delay the trial.

The court previously heard Ms Higgins had recently appointed a new Perth-based counsel, led by Rachel Young SC, who needed to be briefed on the case. Ms Young was going to be available for the first week of the trial.

The court also heard it was unlikely the trial would take the full scheduled six weeks with Mr Sharaz previously advising he would not be participating.

The unusual move saw Justice Paul Tottle hand down a judgment in the matter involving Mr Sharaz, with a settlement to be determined after the trial.

Senator Linda Reynolds is suing Brittany Higgins for defamation. NewsWire / Sharon Smith Credit: NCA NewsWire

Mediation talks fail to settle defamation claim

The parties met for mediation talks to try and settle the claim at the WA Supreme Court on March 5, which saw Ms Higgins and her husband travel to Perth from their new home in France.

Hour-long talks failed to reach an outcome and the matter was vacated after Ms Higgins was hospitalised following the marathon session.

Talks failed again on May 21 when a last-ditch attempt was made to settle the claim before it went to trial.

Justice Michael Lee’s verdict in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial

Ms Reynolds has told reporters she wants to see justice for the “many people whose lives had been destroyed” in the fallout of Ms Higgins’ allegation that she was raped by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the Senator’s office, a claim he has denied.

In the Federal Court earlier this year, Justice Michael Lee ruled he was convinced to a civil standard – which is different to a criminal standard – that on the balance of probabilities Ms Higgins was raped.

Ms Higgins will fight the defamation claim, after multiple attempts at mediation talks failed. NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia

That finding came following legal action Mr Lehrmann brought against Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a report on The Project program in 2021.

Mr Lehrmann is appealing the decision.

Justice Lee also found claims of a political cover-up involving Senator Reynolds and others were not true, a finding Senator Reynolds said vindicated her.

Ms Reynolds told reporters she needed to clear her name, and that Justice Lee was very clear there was never any political conspiracy.

“There was simply never any political conspiracy and there was certainly the allegations of mistreatment as the evidence in the Lee trial has absolutely demonstrated,” she said.

Criminal matter abandoned in the ACT Supreme Court

In October 2022, a criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court against Mr Lehrmann was aborted because of jury misconduct.

A mistrial was declared and the jury was dismissed after it was discovered one of the jurors had conducted their own research outside of what was presented in court.

The trial was relisted for February 2023, but was abandoned and the charge dropped when the Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold found another trial would pose an unacceptable risk to Ms Higgins’ mental health.

More to come