Bruce Lehrman He is expected to face a multimillion-dollar legal bill when a court decides who will pay the bulk of his convicted defamation case against Ten.
In April, the former Liberal staffer suffered a huge legal loss after the Federal Court ruled that an allegation that he raped Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House office in March 2019 was probably true.
The 28-year-old had filed a defamation lawsuit over a February 2021 report on The Project in which journalist Lisa Wilkinson interviewed Ms Higgins about the rape allegation.
Since the findings against Lehrmann, the parties have been in dispute over legal costs and who should pay what is expected to amount to a sizeable legal bill for the long-running, high-profile case.
Judge Michael Lee will rule on the matter on Friday afternoon, when Lehrmann is expected to be ordered to pay at least part of Ten and Wilkinson’s costs.
Bruce Lehrmann lost his successful defamation trial on April 15 (pictured outside court)
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured giving a speech outside court after Lehrmann lost her case.
Earlier in the week, the court heard that he had no financial backing and that his lawyers had agreed they would not need to be paid if he lost the case.
Ten will have to pay Wilkinson at least some of the legal costs he incurred in hiring his own lawyers.
The network will then be able to claim this amount from Lehrmann as part of its own expenses.
However, an arbitrator will be appointed to examine whether the journalist could have avoided unnecessary costs with the way she handled her case.
Lehrmann has until May 31 to appeal the ruling in the defamation case.
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