Federal Court Judge Michael Lee will hand down his judgment in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Lisa Wilkinson and Channel Ten at 10.15am today.
Mr Lehrmann initiated defamation proceedings in February 2021 over an episode of The Project Brittany Higgins first made her rape allegations public in an interview with Wilkinson.
He was not named on the broadcast, but claimed friends and colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist. He has always maintained his innocence.
The trial lasted a month and took place in December, with the verdict initially scheduled for April 4.
However, the case was reopened in early April after Network Ten successfully argued that there was new evidence from the former Channel seven employee Taylor Auerbach who was unavailable during the trial.
Mr Auerbach was part of the team on Seven’s Spotlight program when it secured exclusive interviews with Mr Lehrmann, which aired in June and August last year.
During these two interviews, secret information about the criminal trial against Lehrmann was broadcast on national television.
The confidential material included Ms Higgins’ private texts and CCTV footage of Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann entering Parliament House before she was allegedly raped in March 2019.
The leaked information was originally collected by the Australian Federal Police during the investigation into Ms Higgins’ rape allegations and was protected under the Harman Undertaking, meaning it could not be used for anything other than legal proceedings.
Mr Auerbach, who left his job at Seven last year, claimed in his affidavit that Mr Lehrmann was the source of the confidential material.
Mr Lehrmann has denied in court that he was the source of the leaked content.
Mr Auerbach was cross-examined by Mr Lehrmann’s barrister, Matthew Richardson SC, in which he alleged Channel Seven covered Mr Lehrmann’s drug and sex worker costs.
Mr Lehrmann and Channel Seven have denied these claims.