The judge presiding over former federal Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s multimillion-dollar defamation case against Network Ten and high-profile presenter Lisa Wilkinson will deliver his decision on April 4, in a case that attracted an unprecedented audience online.
Wilkinson’s evidence on December 14 drew the second-highest number of views , according to figures supplied by the Federal Court.University of Melbourne Law School Associate Professor Jason Bosland, director of the Media and Communications Law Research Network, said the media parties were relying in part on a truth defence and seeking to prove “an allegation of serious criminality”.
“However, the number of people who identified the applicant from the broadcast is relevant to the assessment of damages,” he said. A very small audience would warrant a smaller damages award.Text messages tendered in evidence reveal two of Lehrmann’s then-friends asked him who Higgins was referring to in ainterview, and he said he had “no idea”. Ten submitted that “not even his former closest friends identified him as the subject of the allegations” until he told them.
Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and his ACT Supreme Court sexual assault trial was aborted in 2022 due to juror misconduct. A second trial did not proceed owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.that it appeared that parts of the evidence of both Higgins and Lehrmann “simply can’t be accepted”.
Lisa Wilkinson leaves court in November last year, flanked by her barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC , and Ten’s barrister, Matt Collins, KC.“There are many factors that contribute to whether a publisher’s conduct is reasonable or not. These include, but are not limited to, the sources of information, their quality, independent verification of allegations where possible, and whether the applicant was given a reasonable time to respond prior to broadcast.
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