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Brittany Higgins has officially been declared bankrupt following her defamation loss to her former boss, ex-Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, with the Federal Court ruling Higgins’ finances should be taken over so Reynolds can recover the money she is owed.
The orders mark a significant milestone in the long-running legal dispute between Reynolds and her former staffer after Higgins’ alleged rape at parliament house by her colleague, Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019.
Brittany Higgins outside the Perth Supreme Court in 2024.Credit: Trevor Collens
In orders published on Friday morning, Federal Court Justice Michael Feutrill placed the former Liberal staffer’s estate in bankruptcy, backdated to October 8. He fixed Reynolds’ legal costs at $6330, to be paid out of Higgins’ estate.
Feutrill ordered Reynolds to serve a copy of the order to trustee Daniel Peter Juratowitch within seven days.
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Earlier this year, Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, were ordered to pay Reynolds, upwards of $341,000 in damages and likely more than $1 million in legal costs after her successful defamation action against the couple.
Higgins has previously received a $2.4 million compensation payment from the Commonwealth, which was placed into a trust, with the handling of that money now central to the bankruptcy process.
The decision follows a contested court hearing earlier this week in which Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett argued Higgins had failed to comply with a bankruptcy notice.
A key issue ventilated during Monday’s hearing was whether the bankruptcy notice had been properly served, with Bennett arguing the service was valid because it was done through Higgins’ lawyer Carmel Galati.
The court was also told Higgins had previously relied on mental health grounds in earlier proceedings, including her decision not to give evidence in the Federal Court defamation trial before Justice Michael Lee, instead relying on findings from separate defamation action Lehrmann took – and ultimately lost – against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
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Feutrill said he required time to consider the issues raised but ultimately granted the creditor’s petition.
The bankruptcy ruling follows Higgins’ decision last month to drop her appeal against the defamation judgment, paving the way for the creditor’s action to proceed.
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