The lawyer who will represent Bruce Lehrmann as he appeals a major defamation loss wants to keep his identity secret for fear of harassment.
Hearings in which the former Liberal staffer will attempt to overturn the Federal Court’s findings are not expected to take place for the better part of a year, but the person who will argue the 29-year-old’s case won’t be known until closer to the time are made. .
During a brief hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Lehrmann’s attorney, Zali Burrows, wrote the proposed counsel’s name on a piece of paper and showed it to the other parties at the bar table.
“Until I have the date for the hearing for the appeal and I have formally informed him, he wishes to remain unnamed just because he doesn’t want to be harassed or harassed like I am,” Ms Burrows told the court. .
Taking into account the parties’ availability, Judge Wendy Abraham said the appeal hearing would most likely take place in August.
“I am not in a position to actually list the case, that is for the court to do, but can I ask the parties to keep the dates of August 19 to 22 for the listing,” she said.
Mr Lehrmann is appealing against a judgment handed down in April which said he was not defamed in reports that he sexually assaulted Brittany Higgins at Parliament House because the allegations were largely true.
The 29-year-old had sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a February 2021 broadcast on The Project in which Ms Higgins made the allegations.
Channel Ten has charged Bruce Lehrmann $2.5 million over his failed defamation case
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured giving her Logies speech in June 2022
The court ruled in October that Mr Lehrmann did not have to pay $200,000 to allow the appeal to proceed, after Judge Abraham found it was not in the public interest to force him to do so.
“The finding against him is extremely serious,” the judge said at the time.
‘The impact on him if he is denied that (appeal) right speaks for itself.’
Judge Abraham also allowed Mr Lehrmann to suspend previous court orders that he pay $2 million in legal fees to Ten for their defense costs in the defamation proceedings.
Tien had hoped to thwart the appeal by forcing him to pay the $200,000 as security in case he lost his appeal and had to pay the broadcaster’s costs.
Judge Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that Brittany Higgins (left, with her partner David Sharaz) was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in 2019
Ms Burrows told an earlier hearing that Lehrmann’s financial condition and reputation were so poor that his only chance of earning an income might be to start an OnlyFans account.
He lived on Centrelink benefits partly because the broadcaster contributed to his image as a rapist, she said.
“They are part of the reason why he is virtually unemployed,” Ms Burrows added.
Judge Michael Lee dealt a crushing blow to Mr Lehrmann in his April judgment, dismissing his defamation suit and finding on the balance of probabilities that he raped Ms Higgins in an office at Parliament House in March 2019.
It came after a criminal case facing Mr Lehrmann was dropped in 2022 without any findings being made against him.
“After escaping from the lion’s den, Mr. Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat,” Judge Lee said in his decision.
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