Brittany Higgins to marry David Sharaz in June

Brittany Higgins’ lawyers have revealed she will marry her fiancé David Sharaz in early June.

The wedding date was revealed on Thursday when legal teams for Ms Higgins returned to WA Supreme Court amid Senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation action against her.

Ms Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins for social media posts which she claims damaged her reputation.

Outside court on Thursday, Ms Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett said he made an application to get a copy of documentation relating to a trust account in her name.

The Brittany Higgins Protective Trust was established in February last year after she was given $2.4million in compensation over the way her rape claims were handled between 2019 and 2021. 

Chief Justice Peter Quinlan was told Ms Higgins was getting married early next month and her lawyers would need more time to prepare submissions for the application. 

Mr Bennett said: ‘We do not know who the trustee is, we do not know what law of Australia, Victoria, NSW or the ACT that governs it, we need to know those facts and we get that by finding a document.’

Chief Justice Peter Quinlan accommodated for her wedding date and ordered that the matter return to court for a directions hearing on June 17.

The matter is set down a six-week trial in July.

Ms Higgins and Ms Reynolds tried to settle the matter through mediation on Tuesday, but they were unable to reach an understanding.

Ms Reynolds’ defamation case centres on social media posts fired off by Ms Higgins’ in relation to her rape claims against her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.

The senator claims the posts imply that she pressured Ms Higgins not to proceed with a police complaint about her rape claims, and that she interfered with Lehrmann’s trial in 2022.

Ms Higgins is also accused of breaching a non-disparagement clause in a settlement contract she entered in 2021 that prevents her from speaking negatively about Ms Reynolds.

The senator is seeking aggravated damages, an injunction to stop Ms Higgins from publishing allegedly defamatory material, and another injunction to stop her from breaching the settlement contract. 

Ms Reynolds first threatened legal action in July last year, claiming she has been the target of ‘unwarranted criticism and abuse’ since Ms Higgins went public with her rape claims in 2021.

Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz permanently relocated to France at the end of last year, having bought a house near Bordeaux.

In December, Ms Reynolds wrote a letter to Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier pointing to reports stating the former political staffer had permanently moved to France.

‘If such reports are true, we consider that an application for freezing orders is appropriate,’ the letter read.

‘Please advise as a matter of urgency your client’s intentions in respect of her travel to France and your availability to confer in respect of our client’s proposed application.’ 

In April, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found on a balance of probabilities that Lehrmann did rape Ms Higgins in Parliament House on March 23, 2019.

The finding marked the end of Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.