The ABC and former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann have settled a defamation motion following a 2022 National Press Club speech by Brittany Higgins.
Mr Lehrmann was because of tackle the ABC, alongside Network 10, within the Federal Court in Sydney immediately after he sued over protection of allegations he raped his former colleague Ms Higgins in Parliament House in Canberra.
The ABC mentioned it had “settled on mutually acceptable, confidential phrases, with out admission of legal responsibility.”
The allegations in opposition to Mr Lehrmann stay unresolved after a prison trial within the ACT Supreme Court collapsed because of juror misconduct, and plans for a retrial have been later deserted due to fears for Ms Higgins’s well being.
There have been no findings in opposition to Mr Lehrmann, who maintains his innocence.
Mr Lehrmann’s defamation motion in opposition to Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson started immediately -both of whom attended proceedings immediately.
The Project first aired allegations by Brittany Higgins in 2021.
While this system didn’t title Mr Lehrmann, he later argued in a letter to Network 10 that his identification was “broadly trafficked because the wrongdoer” throughout social media.
The court docket heard The Project’s producer didn’t give Lehrmann ample time to reply to a program which was weeks within the making and already “set in stone”.
The broadcast of the interview was seen reside by 725,000 folks and by an additional 200,000 on 10 Play earlier than it was taken down – at which period the “poison would have unfold”, Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson mentioned.
“My shopper has been publicly maligned, as definitely essentially the most outstanding rapist, in all probability one of many extra revolting predators within the latest historical past of this nation.
“Mr Lehrmann has misplaced all the things. A considerable award of damages can be known as for, accompanied by a written judgement, significantly important on this case, vindicating Mr Lehrmann.”
In court docket immediately Bruce Lehrmann mentioned he was ‘socially remoted’ after the interview aired, including the social isolation led to some “important psychological well being struggles”.
“I’ve labored out who my actual buddies are that’s for positive, which aren’t many,” he advised the Federal Court.
The Federal Court this morning additionally rejected a push by 10 to limit the reside streaming of the trial on YouTube.
Source: ABC, The Guardian
