US EditionLehrmann Lawyer’s ‘Are You OK?’ Submission in High-Stakes Appeal
Bruce Lehrmann contests the Federal Court's civil ruling of rape against him, alleging procedural unfairness and disputing the legal definition applied in his defamation loss to Network Ten.
- On August 21, 2025, Bruce Lehrmann began appealing a Federal Court finding by Justice Michael Lee that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
- Burrows argued the appeal rests on procedural unfairness, saying Lehrmann was 'taken by surprise' that Justice Michael Lee's findings described a non-violent rape, differing from the pleaded violent rape at Parliament House.
- The court was told the criminal trial collapsed due to juror misconduct and charges were dropped, with Justice Michael Lee finding Lehrmann told deliberate lies and facing $2m in Network Ten's costs last year.
- Appeal judges expressed scepticism, noting the appeal opened on shaky ground with the full bench of the Federal Court reserving judgment while Bruce Lehrmann's reputation suffers as 'probably Australia's most hated man.'
- The case began with a 2021 television interview when The Project aired Brittany Higgins' allegations, prompting Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson to defend their truth-based reporting amid debates over independent journalism in Canberra.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Bruce Lehrmann lied on stand to conceal rape, court told
Bruce Lehrmann told a number of lies during his defamation trial against a national broadcaster because he was trying not to expose himself as a rapist, a court has been told.The former political staffer was found by Federal Court Justice Michael Lee to have - on the balance of probabilities - raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.The bruising civil court finding came after Lehrmann sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa…
In April 2024, Judge Michael Lee found Higgins' 2019 rape allegation against Lehrmann true, and also determined that the media reports were true and not defamatory. In his appeal, Lehrmann argued that the media reports portrayed the rape as more violent than it actually was and that the court failed to provide adequate procedural fairness. His attorneys stated that Lehrmann had become a "national laughingstock" as a result of the incident and we…
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