Former WA Senator Linda Reynolds (leaving the ACT Courts in 2022) has been awarded almost $350,000 in damages by the WA Supreme Court. Photo: Albert McKnight.
Former WA Senator Linda Reynolds has won her defamation case against Brittany Higgins.
Ms Reynolds brought the civil suit against Ms Higgins and her now-husband, David Sharaz, claiming defamation over three social media posts: tweets from 27 January 2022, and 20 July 2023, as well as an Instagram story published on 4 July 2023.
She also claimed the Instagram story constituted a breach of settlement. She added a conspiracy claim to the suit shortly before it went to trial, alleging the pair had “agreed on a plan, the sole or predominant purpose of which was to injure [Ms Reynolds]”.
Mr Sharaz chose not to defend the claims against him.
The 4 July 2023 Instagram story contained screenshots of news headlines about Ms Reynolds referring Ms Higgins’ compensation payment to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and Ms Reynolds accusing then-Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus of prejudice, plus comments by Ms Higgins.
Justice Tottle found the Instagram story conveyed three defamatory claims: that Ms Reynolds was engaged in a “campaign of harassing” Ms Higgins, that Ms Reynolds had mishandled Ms Higgins’ allegation of rape, and that Ms Reynolds had engaged in “questionable conduct” during the criminal trial of rape-accused Bruce Lehrmann.
He ruled that none of Ms Higgins’ defences were established in relation to this incident. He awarded damages, including aggravated damages, of $180,000 for this post.
Justice Tottle also found the 27 January 2022 Tweet was defamatory, as it implied Ms Reynolds had pressured Ms Higgins not to proceed with a “genuine complaint of sexual assault to police” and that she was a “hypocrite in her advocacy for gender equality and female empowerment”.
Justice Tottle awarded damages, including aggravated damages, of $135,000 for this Tweet.
But he found the 20 July 2023 Tweets (and subsequent Instagram story) were not defamatory.
Justice Tottle’s reasons outlined that Ms Reynolds had argued these had implied that she wanted to “silence the victims of sexual assault”.
“The defendant has established the defences of honest opinion, fair comment and the Lange qualified privilege,” he said.
“The defence of justification was not established. The plaintiff has failed to establish her claim in respect of this publication.”
The breach of contract claim, around the 2021 settlement Ms Higgins had reached with Ms Reynolds after the latter had called the former a “lying cow”, was established.
This was for a sum of $10,000, which Ms Higgins donated to the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre.
Terms of the settlement prohibited Ms Higgins from making disparaging, adverse or critical remarks, allegations or comments “with respect to the conduct” of the parties involved.
It was found that Ms Higgins had breached this condition.
As for Ms Reynolds’ claim for conspiracy damages, she submitted there had been an “agreement or common design” between Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz “for the sole or dominant purpose of causing [her] injury” in January 2021.
“In broad terms, the alleged plan involved the widespread publication of the allegation [in January and early February 2021 that] the plaintiff was involved in a cover-up of the rape and the orchestration, by the defendant and Mr Sharaz, of an attack on the plaintiff by her political opponents,” Justice Tottle’s reasons stated.
He found this was not the case.
In total, Ms Reynolds was awarded $315,000 in damages, plus $26,109.25 in interest.
The question of legal costs will be debated in the future, but it will not be made public unless the court publishes its decision.
Mr Lehrmann’s ACT criminal trial ended in a mistrial, and he has always denied the allegations.
A Federal Court found he had raped Ms Higgins on the balance of reasonable probabilities in 2024. He has appealed this decision.
Original Article published by Claire Fenwicke on Region Canberra.
