Bruce Lehrmann will have the opportunity to appeal the Federal Court’s judgement from April that found, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Brittany Higgins in 2019.
Justice Michael Lee’s decision on the former Liberal staffer’s defamation lawsuit against Network Ten meant Lehrmann was ordered to pay the television network $2 million.
But the Federal Court on Wednesday accepted Lehrmann’s bid to appeal Justice Lee’s judgement.
Justice Wendy Abraham ordered the $2 million costs order to be paused until the end of any appeal proceedings. She also denied Network Ten’s application for a $200,000 security of costs order.
“The impact on him if he is denied (the right to appeal) is self-evident,” Justice Abraham said. “That is the likely consequence of making the order the respondents seek.”
Lehrmann has been accused of raping his former colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019 since she made her allegations public in an interview with The Project on Network Ten in February 2021.
Since then, Lehrmann has faced a criminal trial in 2022 – which was ultimately abandoned due to juror misconduct with no retrial – before launching his defamation lawsuit against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson at the end of 2023.
Lehrmann has always denied the rape allegations against him.
The defamation lawsuit came to a close in April this year, when Justice Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann raped Higgins.
Lehrmann then made a bid to appeal this decision later this year, claiming there was “genuine public interest” to allow an appeal.
Zali Burrows, Lehrmann’s lawyer, told the court that her client is “arguably Australia’s most hated man”, and he had been “smashed” by his experiences in court, including being unable to find employment.
“The only shot he’d probably ever have in making money is by going on OnlyFans or something silly like that,” Burrows remarked.
While Network Ten’s barrister Dr Matthew Collins KC noted there were some “faintly arguable” grounds of appeal, he found some others “hopeless”.
“He (Lehrmann) has had his day in court, he had a very expensive trial which was conducted in the full glare of the entire nation,” Dr Collins said last week.
“He was very ably represented and his honour had made findings at the end of the day.”
The court’s reasons behind today’s decision to accept Lehrmann’s bid to appeal will be published at a later date. Meanwhile, Justice Abraham has noted her availability to hear his appeal in March 2025.
The case will return to the federal court next month for a case management hearing.