Bruce Lehrmann gets extra time to appeal defamation trial loss as court hears of struggle to recover costs
Bruce Lehrmann has been given extra time to refile the grounds of his appeal against his defamation trial loss to Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson, after he missed court-set deadlines.
In a hastily arranged hearing at the federal court in Sydney on Friday, Justice Wendy Abraham said the former Liberal staffer was in breach of court orders for failing to file his updated appeal before the due date on 29 August.
Abraham gave Lehrmann an extension until Friday 13 September to file any updated notice of appeal and until 19 September for final written submissions in respect to the costs and stay applications.
Related: Bruce Lehrmann to ask appeals court to set aside $2m costs order for failed defamation suit
Lehrmann’s notice of appeal was filed at the latest possible time, on Friday 31 May. His appeal is based on a claim that he was denied procedural fairness by Justice Michael Lee.
In April, Lee found on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann was not defamed by Wilkinson and Ten when The Project broadcast an interview with Brittany Higgins on 15 February 2021 in which she alleged she was raped by a staffer.
Lehrmann has always denied the allegation and he pleaded not guilty at the criminal trial of the matter, which was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Lehrmann did not appear in court on Friday, and was represented by criminal solicitor Zali Burrows.
Burrows told the court Lehrmann had struggled to recover $117,000 in court costs, which he should have been exempt from, and which he needed as a “matter of urgency” to use to pay the senior barrister Guy Reynolds to finalise the amended appeal.
She said there were “a lot of moneys paid in respect of hearing allocation fees, filing fees, which my client didn’t have to pay at the time because he was on Centrelink”.
“My client had made an application to the registrar in respect to a refund for the fees but there was a technical issue so if you could deal with that expeditiously … we need that money for him to settle the amended appeal which has been drafted,” she said.
Abraham questioned why Burrows had not raised the issue sooner.
“Without any notice, you want this court, as in me, to deal with a matter that is a matter you haven’t yet filed before the registrar so you can succeed in that matter, so you can brief somebody who can then settle and we’re not going to get the amended grounds until after that?” she said.
“You are in breach of orders of which I have no explanation … Why is this being raised today for the first time?
“I do not propose to make any orders in relation to applications that are still not filed … you will need to file it with the registrar for expedition and anything in support to get it expedited if that’s what you wish.”
Ten’s lawyer Tim Senior said he was “very concerned” that things Burrows had said in the hearing were going to “hijack and disrupt” appeals proceedings, adding they had received “no explanation” as to why the appellant had not filed necessary orders, or how much further time was required.
“There’s so much uncertainty involved I don’t really know what to say,” he said.
“We’re concerned about the impact of this timetable … we don’t know why Mr Lehrmann has delayed after so much time.”
The case will be back in court on 14 October, alongside an application from Network Ten for Lehrmann to put up $200,000 in security for costs ahead of the appeal.
The Ten application is based on the belief that as Lehrmann is unemployed and without significant means to pay its costs the network could be saddled with the bill.
