Former senator Linda Reynolds has confirmed that Brittany Higgins‘ husband, David Sharaz, has accepted service of a bankruptcy notice as she seeks to recover damages awarded in her favour.
Ms Higgins, a former Liberal staffer, and her now-husband were sued for defamation by her former boss over a series of social media posts that the ex-defence minister successfully argued had damaged her reputation.
Last month, WA Supreme Court Justice Paul Tottle ordered Sharaz to pay Ms Reynolds $92,000 in damages, plus legal costs expected to exceed $500,000.
He is also jointly liable with Ms Higgins to pay a further $135,000 in damages over a separate post shared about the former minister.
Ms Reynolds has since moved to bankrupt Mr Sharaz, filing an application in the Federal Court in recent weeks.
‘Mr Sharaz today agreed to accept service of the bankruptcy notice I had issued to him several weeks ago, but not before forcing me to incur further legal expenses in applying for substituted service orders,’ Ms Reynolds said on Friday.
‘Again, this is predictable conduct that I have unfortunately become accustomed to in the pursuit of justice. Mr Sharaz now has 21 days to pay the debt or I will proceed to apply to formally bankrupt him.’
Justice Tottle ruled that the social media posts falsely implied Ms Reynolds had taken part in a political cover-up of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation.
‘The defendant and Mr David Sharaz published a tweet on 27 January 2022, which contained two imputations,’ Justice Tottle said in his judgement.
‘First, that the plaintiff had pressured the defendant not to proceed with a genuine complaint of sexual assault. And second, that the plaintiff is a hypocrite in her advocacy of gender equality and female empowerment.
‘Both imputations were defamatory The defendant has not established her defence of truth or any of her other defences.’
The high-profile five-week defamation trial, which ended in September 2024, was just another twist in the never-ending saga which has engulfed the worlds of Australian politics, media and the law since a fateful night in March 2019.
It was then that Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the Reynolds’ ministerial suite.
A Federal Court judge overseeing a defamation case launched by Lehrmann against Network Ten found Ms Higgins was, on the balance of probabilities, raped by Lehrmann in the office.
Lehrmann is currently in the process of appealing that finding.
He has always denied the rape allegation and his criminal trial was derailed by juror misconduct.
