The new legal battle will see Linda Reynolds sue over the settlement paid to Brittany Higgins.
The fallout from the Brittany Higgins scandal continues to reverberate around the country, with former defence minister Linda Reynolds this week launching fresh legal action against both the federal government and law firm HWL Ebsworth over the financial settlement Ms Higgins received.
The Commonwealth agreed to pay $2.4 million to Ms Higgins, which included $1.48 million for lost earning capacity, according to documents released in 2023 during a marathon defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Ms Higgins for defamation.
That defamation case was based on Ms Higgins' allegation that Mr Lehrmann had raped her on a couch in Ms Reynolds' Parliament House office in 2019. Mr Lehrmann lost the case when Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that Ms Higgins' allegation was true.
Part of Ms Higgins' claim for compensation from the federal government was that her mental health deteriorated after she was forced to travel to Perth after the rape and was left to work alone in a hotel room for several weeks during Ms Reynolds' federal election campaign.
Ms Reynolds claims she was denied the opportunity to defend herself against these claims when the federal government agreed to settle Ms Higgins' compensation claim.
She further claims the federal government had initially agreed to pay for separate legal representation, which was through Clayton Utz, but only HWL Ebsworth had been involved in settling the claim.
According to documents filed with the Federal Court, Ms Reynolds is suing the federal government for breaching its fiduciary duties and HWL Ebsworth for breaching its fiduciary duties or, alternatively, for negligence.
On a separate front, the parties are still waiting for a WA Supreme Court judgment from last year's separate defamation action brought by Ms Reynolds against Ms Higgins and her partner David Sharaz. In that case, Ms Reynolds claimed three social media posts made in 2023 had damaged her reputation by casting her as the villain behind a government cover-up of the rape case.
In that case, Ms Reynolds is seeking a "substantial" payout from Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz.
Her lawyer, Martin Bennett, told the court during the trial that Ms Higgins' allegation that Ms Reynolds had left her to work alone in a hotel room for several weeks could not be sustained after texts between Ms Higgins and her former partner were read to the court. Those messages detailed her activities while in Perth, which included going out to dinner with Ms Reynolds.
“This is a young woman enjoying herself, going out, doing things,” Mr Bennett said. “Event, after event, after event, all could have been provided to the Commonwealth,” he said.
