The federal court will decide on Tuesday whether to reopen the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case so Network Ten can present fresh evidence, possibly leading to a delay in the judgment which is scheduled for Thursday morning.
The timing of the highly anticipated decision from Justice Michael Lee in Lehrmann v Network Ten & Ors was thrown into doubt on Easter Day when the respondent made a surprise application for an emergency interlocutory hearing.
Justice Lee granted leave to Ten to present its argument for the reopening of its case at 5pm on Tuesday.
What will happen on Tuesday?
Ten’s barrister, Dr Matt Collins KC, will present his case for reopening the trial based on “fresh evidence”.
The federal court will approve or deny Ten’s application. An approval may lead to further evidence in the defamation trial being heard at a later date and the judgment being delayed.
What has changed?
Lee was to rule this week on whether the former Liberal staffer was defamed by Lisa Wilkinson and Ten when The Project broadcast an interview with Brittany Higgins in 2021 in which she alleged she had been raped in Parliament House.
Guardian Australia understands the fresh evidence includes an affidavit with new information about Lehrmann’s dealings with the Seven Network.
A former Seven producer, Taylor Auerbach, has reportedly given Ten additional information about his dealings with Lehrmann before the exclusive interview with the network’s Spotlight program.
According to media reports, Auerbach’s affidavit outlines how Seven was able to obtain the material used in the Spotlight interview, including text messages, Parliament House security video and audio from a meeting between Higgins, Wilkinson and The Project’s producer Angus Llewellyn.
Lehrmann gave the exclusive interview to Spotlight’s Liam Bartlett in return for paying his rent, worth more than $100,000.
Why did the fresh evidence come to light?
The fresh evidence came to Ten’s attention after Auerbach issued defamation proceedings against Lehrmann last week.
The concerns notice was issued after the former Liberal staffer made statements to the press which Auerbach’s lawyer claims implied that Auerbach had lied about what took place when Seven was courting Lehrmann for an interview.
News.com.au’s political editor, Samantha Maiden, reported that Auerbach put almost $3,000 on a Seven credit card to pay for Thai massages for Lehrmann and a producer during the interview courting process.
“It’s an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer,” Lehrmann told News Corp after the story appeared. “Network Seven [has] only ever covered reasonable travel for filming and accommodation.”
Auerbach, who lost his job as an investigations producer at Sky News after the reports were published, contacted a lawyer after reading Lehrmann’s statement.
Auerbach’s solicitor, Rebekah Giles, said Lehrmann’s comments about her client were false and conveyed a defamatory imputation.
What has the court heard about Seven’s use of texts, audio and video recordings?
The court heard in December that under the exclusivity agreement between Lehrmann and Seven the network would have access to all relevant documents as well as an exclusive interview.
The contract, which was released by the court, specified all “information, documents, film, video, photographs, items and assistance reasonably requested by Seven” would be made available.
In the witness box in December Lehrmann said the agreement did specify that he should give Seven access to all relevant material but he did not give it anything except the interviews.
The hearing will be broadcast on the federal court’s YouTube channel at 5pm.
