{"id":193624,"date":"2025-10-06T16:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/193624\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T16:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:32:12","slug":"linda-reynolds-files-federal-court-application-to-make-brittany-higgins-husband-david-sharaz-bankrupt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/193624\/","title":{"rendered":"Linda Reynolds files Federal Court application to make Brittany Higgins\u2019 husband David Sharaz bankrupt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Reynolds is seeking to have David Sharaz declared bankrupt, weeks after he was ordered to pay eye-watering damages and legal costs.<\/p>\n

It comes after the former Liberal senator won her bitter Supreme Court defamation case against former staffer Brittany Higgins and her husband Mr Sharaz in August, after a long trial last year.<\/p>\n

Losing the case leaves the couple with a hefty damages bill and even more in legal costs.<\/p>\n

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On Monday, through her legal representatives Bennett, Ms Reynolds filed an application in the WA registry of the Federal Court for substituted service of bankruptcy notice.<\/p>\n

When creditors secure a court order for a debtor to be made bankrupt, their estate is sequestrated and financial affairs are managed by an external trustee.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer WA senator Linda Reynolds outside court after hearing she had won the defamation case. Credit: Ian Munro\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

A web conference hearing before Registrar Russell Trott has been set down for October 15.<\/p>\n

The trial judge, Justice Paul Tottle, ordered Ms Higgins pay $315,000 in damages, plus more than $26,000 in interest.<\/p>\n

He also ordered Mr Sharaz pay up to $220,000 in damages, comprising $85,000 payable by him alone and $135,000 that the couple are jointly liable for.<\/p>\n

Justice Tottle also ordered Ms Higgins pay 80 per cent of the now ex-politician\u2019s legal bills, which Ms Reynolds has described as being in the \u201cmillions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Indicating Mr Sharaz\u2019s court costs will likely run well into six figures, Ms Reynolds sought either a lump sum of $490,000, a special costs order removing scale limits or an order that her costs be paid on an indemnity basis.<\/p>\n

Justice Tottle chose the latter, which are awarded only in exceptional circumstances and cover all costs and disbursements reasonably incurred.<\/p>\n

Such costs apply when the defendant unreasonably failed to make a settlement offer or agree to a settlement offer proposed by the plaintiff.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe couple reportedly have had to sell their French chateau. Credit: MICK TSIKAS\/AAPIMAGE<\/p>\n

Ms Higgins made a $200,000 settlement offer just before the trial but it was deemed unreasonable, for reasons including it being open for acceptance for just three days.<\/p>\n

She is appealing her costs order as well as her damages bill.<\/p>\n

The civil action was over a series of social media posts in 2022 and 2023 in which Ms Higgins alleged Ms Reynolds mishandled her claim she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House in Canberra in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"MsMs Higgins did not testify at the trial but flew to Perth for an earlier hearing. Credit: TheWest<\/p>\n

Ms Higgins clinched a $2.4 million settlement with the Federal Government over those claims, but the couple reportedly had to sell their chateau in France recently for an estimated $700,000.<\/p>\n

Mr Lehrmann\u2019s 2022 rape trial was aborted due to juror misconduct, the charge was then dropped and he continues to maintain his innocence.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know needs help, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Linda Reynolds is seeking to have David Sharaz declared bankrupt, weeks after he was ordered to pay eye-watering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,84],"class_list":["post-193624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}