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Brittany Higgins has been ordered to pay the majority of ex-senator Linda Reynolds’ legal costs after a court found she defamed her former boss in a series of social media posts in 2023.
The Supreme Court of Western Australia ruling, published on Tuesday, comes two weeks after Higgins was ordered to pay Reynolds $315,000 in damages for falsely claiming the cabinet minister harassed her and mishandled her rape complaint.
Brittany Higgins and Linda Reynolds.Credit: Composite image: Marija Ercegovac.
The former Liberal staffer will now also have to cover 80 per cent of Reynolds’ legal bill, which includes the appointment of high-profile Perth lawyer Martin Bennett as her counsel during a five-week defamation trial in 2024.
In making the finding, Tottle said a settlement offer made by Higgins in the days before the trial commenced was not reasonable, and did not contain an apology to vindicate Reynolds’ reputation.
Higgins had offered for her parents to pay Reynolds $200,000, and for her to take a $10,000 loan out to donate to a women’s charity or shelter.
The rejected settlement also included a “mutual statement of regret”, however Tottle said this fell well short of being an apology by “a substantial margin”.
“[Reynold’s] characterisation of it as a statement to the effect the parties have agreed to disagree is accurate,” he said.
“As appears to have been [Higgins’] intention the mutual statement would have conveyed [she] maintained the truth of the defamatory statements made by her.”
The case brought by Reynolds against Higgins arose after the alleged 2019 rape of Higgins in Reynolds’ office by fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann and the political firestorm that followed her going public in 2021.
Tottle found Higgins made multiple false or misleading statements in media interviews about the aftermath of her alleged rape, including about having met with police, not being offered in-person counselling and that she was, in fact, given the option to work from the Gold Coast during the 2019 election campaign.
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The justice wrote that “in [Higgins’] concern to lend credibility to the allegation of a cover-up, the defendant demonstrated such an indifference to the truth that her account of the essential elements of the allegation can only be regarded as dishonest”.
A vindicated Reynolds, outside court last month, said it was a relief to have her reputation restored.
“There was no political cover-up of rape. It is a great relief that my reputation has been finally and fully vindicated,” she said.
“However, it is disappointing that it took four and a half years, multiple court actions and millions of dollars.”
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