Bombshell for Lisa Wilkinson as Network Ten delivers devastating blow over her massive $1.8million legal bill for Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial

Network Ten will only pay Lisa Wilkinson about $558,000 of her $1.8 million legal bill, a court has heard.

The agreement was revealed on Thursday during a case management hearing at the Federal Court regarding costs in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against the network and Wilkinson.

Wilkinson hired her own legal team to defend her in the defamation action, rather than using Ten’s lawyers, and then won a bid to have her employer pay those costs.

Her favorite firm was Gillis Delaney Lawyers, where the supervising partner charges $750 per hour, and Sue Chrysanthou SC, a defamation lawyer, who charges $8,000 per day.

She originally paid Ten a bill for $1.8 million, but the court heard on Thursday that Wilkinson had accepted an offer from the network to pay a fraction of those costs.

The court also heard that Ten had come up with its own bill of $3.6 million for the defamation case with lawyer Matthew Collins KC, who charged $11,000 a day.

However, the network only asked Lehrmann for $2 million.

The costs are determined by an independent referee, who then submits his findings to the judge.

The network originally offered to pay Wilkinson $607,850, but upon investigation, that amount was found to be “too generous.”

Ten’s lawyer Zoe Graus told Justice Lee that if an external arbitrator found Wilkinson’s costs were less than the agreed $558,548, she would have to repay the network.

“Your Honor will ensure that the order below is that, should the adjudicator determine that the amount is less, Ms Wilkinson will refund it to us,” Ms Graus said.

“We are not prepared to commit ourselves to a judgment of that amount today.”

Lehrmann’s lawyer, Paul Svilans, said his client “does not agree with the order, but also has no objection to it.”

He suffered massive legal damage against Ten and Wilkinson in April when Judge Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that he raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in March 2019.

Bruce Lehrmann lost the lawsuit and has now been hit with a $2 million legal bill

He had sued for defamation over an episode of The Project in February 2021, in which Ms Higgins first made her rape allegations in an interview with Wilkinson.

The former Liberal staffer, who had denied the allegations, was not named on the broadcast but claimed friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Ms Higgins’ rapist.

As the loser of the trial, Lehrmann is expected to pay 90 percent of Ten and Wilkinson’s costs for the successful defense of the truth, and 70 percent of the costs associated with pursuing the failed qualified defense of privilege .

The former employee is an unemployed law student who has been out of a job since 2021 and may have to declare bankruptcy.

If Lehrmann goes bankrupt and the bills remain unpaid, Network Ten will have to bear its own costs and Wilkinson’s reasonable costs.

The hearing continues.