Add Category
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has widened his appeal against the result of his failed defamation case, which he launched over an interview conducted on Network Ten by journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
Mr Lehrmann missed the original deadline to file an amended notice of appeal, but the Federal Court granted him more time in a hastily arranged case management hearing last week.
The case against the broadcaster failed when Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Lehrmann had raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019, an allegation she made in an interview on The Project, despite not naming the alleged perpetrator.
He has always denied the allegation, and a 2022 criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court collapsed without a verdict due to juror misconduct.
Mr Lehrmann drafted the original appeal notice himself, but in recent court appearances has been represented by Sydney lawyer Zali Burrows.
The court last week heard Ms Burrows intended to brief senior barrister Guy Reynolds to help draft an amended appeal.
The updated document reveals Mr Lehrmann is now appealing the whole judgment, rather than selected sections.
But the substance of the appeal remains similar in some respects.
Bruce Lehrmann drafted the original appeal notice himself, but in recent court appearances has been represented by Sydney lawyer Zali Burrows. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
Mr Lehrmann argues Justice Lee should not have ruled that Network Ten had proven its substantial truth defence.
The court concluded the most likely version of events was that Ms Higgins was too drunk to consent to sex with Mr Lehrmann, and that he was reckless.
That differed from the program's imputation — and Network Ten's case — that he had ignored repeated refusals of consent.
"The justification case found had not been pleaded … had not been the subject of submissions … and had not been put to the relevant witnesses contrary to the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice," the amended appeal reads.
Mr Lehrmann is also arguing that — had he won the case — Justice Lee should have found he was entitled to more in damages than the $20,000 he decided.
The appeal will be back in the Federal Court in October.
The court will consider Mr Lehrmann's bid to delay the enforcement of the costs order against him in the main case, as well as Network Ten's request that he provide a security of costs before the appeal goes ahead.