Lisa Wilkinson and Ten at loggerheads over Lehrmann costs

1 week ago 11

High-profile presenter Lisa Wilkinson is locked successful a caller combat with Ten implicit her million-dollar ineligible costs of defending Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation suit, aft the web suggested it should not beryllium ordered to ft the measure for each the enactment performed by her lawyers.

Wilkinson, a erstwhile big of Ten’s The Project, had a large triumph successful February erstwhile Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ruled it was tenable for her to little a abstracted squad of lawyers, headed by Sydney defamation silk Sue Chrysanthou, SC, alternatively of being represented by Ten’s team.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, and Lisa Wilkinson extracurricular the Federal Court successful Sydney.

The ruling opened the doorway to Ten reimbursing Wilkinson for her ineligible bills nether an indemnity which covers costs “properly incurred and tenable successful amount”.

However, the precise magnitude Ten volition person to wage is not yet clear. Lehrmann is expected to beryllium ordered to wage astatine slightest immoderate of Ten and Wilkinson’s costs, but the unemployed erstwhile NSW Liberal staffer is improbable to person the fiscal means to conscionable immoderate order.

The proceedings is estimated to person outgo astatine slightest $10 cardinal successful combined ineligible fees.

In submissions filed successful the Federal Court this week, Ten’s barristers said that if Lehrmann “is incapable to fulfill an bid for costs made against him, and Ms Wilkinson is incapable to retrieve her costs from Mr Lehrmann, Network Ten volition person immoderate residual liability to reimburse Ms Wilkinson for portion of her costs incurred successful defending the proceeding”.

However, they noted that Wilkinson had “separate interests” from the web successful narration to a comparatively tiny scope of issues successful the defamation case, including Lehrmann’s assertion for aggravated damages relating to her Logies acceptance code successful 2022 and the defence of qualified privilege.

Ten’s barristers said Wilkinson was “entitled to beryllium indemnified for her reasonably incurred costs” relating to those “separate involvement issues”, but antithetic considerations applied to costs incurred by her “in transportation with issues successful respect of which she had an alignment of interests” with Ten.

A bid of issues successful the proceedings were “common arsenic betwixt Ms Wilkinson and Network Ten”, the network’s barristers said, including the centrepiece defence of information that Lee recovered had been established.

“The information defence was prepared and tally by Network Ten,” the submissions said.

Ten said a referee “ought beryllium directed to inquire into and hole a study for the court” connected a scope of topics, including “whether and, if so, the grade to which, it was tenable for Ms Wilkinson to incur costs” relating to the communal issues, “including for illustration Ms Wilkinson’s ineligible representatives retaining a watching little successful respect of those issues”.

However, successful submissions filed connected Monday and released publically connected Wednesday, Wilkinson’s barristers, Michael Elliott and Daniel Klineberg, said Ten’s submissions “impermissibly question to reagitate” issues that had already been resolved during the earlier combat connected costs.

Ten is yet seeking an bid that Lehrmann wage its costs of the litigation connected an indemnity basis, which covers a higher proportionality of a costs measure than the modular order, due to the fact that helium brought the lawsuit “on a deliberately wicked and calculated basis”. However, it is apt the web volition beryllium near connected the hook for the media parties’ costs successful airy of Lehrmann’s deficiency of funds.

In a historical judgement past week, Lee recovered Ten and Wilkinson had proved to the civilian modular – connected the equilibrium of probabilities – that Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins successful Parliament House successful March 2019.

Wilkinson delivered a code successful June 2022 accepting the metallic Logie for Most Outstanding News Coverage oregon Public Affairs Report for her interrogation with Higgins, which aired connected The Project successful February 2021 and triggered Lehrmann’s lawsuit.

The speech, approved by Ten’s elder litigation counsel, led to Lehrmann’s ACT transgression proceedings for Higgins’ intersexual battle being delayed to debar the hazard of prejudicing the jury. The resultant proceedings successful October 2022 was aborted owed to juror misconduct and helium did not basal proceedings for a 2nd clip owing to concerns astir Higgins’ intelligence health.

Lee’s determination does not magnitude to a uncovering of transgression guilt. The civilian modular of impervious is little than the transgression modular of beyond tenable doubt.