Brittany Higgins has less than $10,000 to her name, a court has been told before Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds succeeded in a bid to access her former political staffer’s trust deed.
The former defence minister, who plans to retire from politics at the next election, is suing Higgins for damages over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation.
Ahead of an August trial for that case, the senator’s legal team on Wednesday prevailed over Higgins’ legal team in a skirmish to access Higgins’ trust documents.
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It was created in late 2022 to hold the proceeds of a $2.4 million financial settlement made with the federal government amid claims she was not supported by Senator Reynolds after Bruce Lehrmann allegedly raped her.
Senator Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett told the Supreme Court in Perth his client wants the document to understand who the trustee is and what jurisdiction’s laws are relevant to it.
It could lead to the senator instigating further court action to have trust funds restored to Higgins before the defamation trial judgment is handed down.
“(It) is likely to be the only process by which Senator Reynolds recovers damages and costs in the event she’s successful,” he told reporters outside court.
“If you’re out of pocket, and you’ve mortgaged your house to the hilt to pay for litigation, recovering those costs is something you try and do as soon as possible.”
During the hearing, the court was told an affidavit penned by one of Higgins’ lawyers, Leon Zwier, in June stated she had net assets worth less than $10,000.
“We know that from all intent and purposes, Ms Higgins leads a wonderful lifestyle of travel and events,” Bennett said as he outlined the reasons why his client wanted to access the trust deed.
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Her lawyers fought the application, saying it was speculative, futile, premature and unnecessary because the Bankruptcy Act provided measures to help the senator if she won the defamation case.
They also raised the tension created by Senator Reynolds’ concerns about whether the compensation given to Higgins should be returned to the Commonwealth and her potential bid to access it.
Chief Justice Peter Quinlan said it was in the interests of justice for Senator Reynolds to be granted discovery of the trust deed.
He also urged the parties to resolve their disputes before the trial.
“I don’t want to sound like King Canute trying to hold back the ocean,” he said.
“It’s not too late for these parties to take the resolution of all disputes between them into their own hands.”
Lehrmann denied raping Higgins and that case ended in a mistrial, with prosecutors withdrawing the charge and ruling out a new trial due to concern for Higgins’ mental health.
Justice Michael Lee in April found to the civil standard that Lehrmann did, on the balance of probabilities, rape Higgins and dismissed his defamation proceedings against Network Ten.
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