Former senator Linda Reynolds has launched bankruptcy proceedings in the Federal Court against her ex-staffer Brittany Higgins as she tries to recover damages awarded to her for defamation.
In August Ms Higgins was ordered to pay Ms Reynolds $315,000 plus $26,000 in interest after she and her husband David Sharaz were found to have defamed the former senator in a series of social media posts.
Ms Higgins was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of Ms Reynolds’s legal costs.
Brittany Higgins ordered to pay $340k to ex-boss Linda Reynolds
Ms Reynolds was represented in court by a team of barristers led by Martin Bennett, who confirmed her legal bill had exceeded $1 million.
The Federal Court’s website shows the former West Australian MP filed a creditor’s petition against Ms Higgins on Friday.
That was the same day Ms Reynolds said Mr Sharaz had been served bankruptcy papers, declaring he had 21 days to pay his debt or she would “proceed to apply to formally bankrupt him”.
He was found liable for up to $220,000 in damages plus costs.
David Sharaz and Brittany Higgins were both found to have defamed Linda Reynolds. (Instagram: David Sharaz)
‘Committed to seeing this through’
In a statement on Wednesday Ms Reynolds confirmed bankruptcy proceedings against Ms Higgins had begun.
Ms Reynolds won her defamation case against Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz in Perth in August. (ABC News: Glyn Jones)
“I confirm that after Brittany failed to comply with the bankruptcy notice I had issued to her several weeks ago, I have now filed a creditor’s petition in the Federal Court,” she said.
“It is unfortunate that I have to take this step in this long-running saga.
“As I have said, this is conduct which comes as no surprise to me, however, what should be plain now is that I am committed to seeing this through to the end.”
The new matter is listed for a hearing before a WA registrar in November.
Ms Higgins lodged an appeal against the defamation ruling last month on the last day possible for her to appeal.
Defamed in social media posts
The defamation action was launched by Ms Reynolds following social media posts made by Ms Higgins beginning in 2022.
The former senator argued the posts trashed her reputation and caused her immense distress following a period of ill health.
Ms Higgins wrote the posts four years after she was raped in the then-senator’s office by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann.
Some of the social media posts made by Brittany Higgins which Ms Reynolds took action over. (Supplied: WA Supreme Court)
The finding of rape was made last year by Justice Michael Lee during a separate defamation action Mr Lehrmann had launched in the Federal Court against Channel 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
That finding was made on the balance of probabilities, the standard of proof in a civil court matter.
Separate criminal proceedings against Mr Lehrmann, which required a charge to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, were discontinued after juror misconduct and concerns for Ms Higgins’s welfare.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied raping Ms Higgins.
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