Ten and Wilkinson Urged to Settle Lehrmann Costs Dispute
Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson are pushed to resolve a cost dispute over Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case before the upcoming hearing in February
Bruce Lehrmann, Lisa Wilkinson, Network Ten, Defamation Case, Australia
Canberra: So, there’s this ongoing spat between Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson about who’s footing the bill for Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case. It’s been a bit of a mess, honestly.
Justice Michael Lee is trying to get them to sort it out. He even set a hearing for February 4, but he was hoping they could wrap it up before Christmas. You know how it is—everyone wants a peaceful holiday!
Last year, the defamation trial wrapped up just before Christmas Eve. Justice Lee had to deal with a lot of drama, and he’s really keen to see this resolved. He mentioned that he wanted this advent season to be different from last year’s.
In April, he dismissed Lehrmann’s lawsuit, saying that Ten and Wilkinson didn’t defame him in their reports about the allegations made by Brittany Higgins. The judge found that what was said on The Project was mostly true.
But here’s the kicker: Lehrmann, who’s pretty strapped for cash, was ordered to pay $2 million in legal costs to Ten. Now, they’re still figuring out how much he owes Wilkinson and how much Ten has to cover for her.
On Monday, it came out that a referee had been brought in to help decide which of Wilkinson’s costs were reasonable. But her lawyer said they couldn’t pin down a dollar amount yet. It’s all a bit of a head-scratcher.
Ten’s lawyer is thinking about rejecting the referee’s report or just using part of it to settle the final bill. So, it’s still up in the air.
And just to add to the confusion, the defamation suit followed a criminal case against Lehrmann that was dropped in 2022 due to juror misconduct. So, no findings were made against him there.
As of now, there’s no date set for Lehrmann’s appeal hearing. It’s all a bit of a waiting game.