Bruce Lehrmann has been ordered to pay Lisa Wilkinson’s husband Peter FitzSimons $4,616 because the author was asked to supply evidence in the a defamation case against his wife and Network Ten.
Mr FitzSimons, who is a prominent newspaper columnist and historical non-fiction writer, was issued with a subpoena last year to produce documents relating to Brittany Higgins’ $325,000 book deal with Penguin Random House.
He brokered her deal in a three-way auction between two other major publishers in early 2021.
Last July, he provided texts between himself and Ms Higgins about the deal ahead of Lehrmann’s defamation battle in the Federal Court.
In March, Mr FitzSimons filed an application requesting that Justice Michael Lee order Lehrmann to cover expenses he incurred in complying with the subpoena.
He was not a witness in the defamation trial and did not attend the court in person during the hearing.
Lehrmann lost the case on April 15 when Justice Michael Lee found, on a civil scale, that he had raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House on March 23, 2019.
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured with Peter FitzSimons who is holding a copy of his book, ‘The Opera House’
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured outside the Federal Court in February with her barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC
Justice Lee was going to deal with costs in a hearing on May 1, but that date was vacated in a court order on Friday when Lehrmann was ordered to pay the costs.
Mr FitzSimons’ wife, Ms Wilkinson, will also have a costs application dealt with in the next hearing.
In February, she won a bid to have Network Ten cover her legal fees associated with hiring her own barrister to represent her in the defamation trial.
She could have used Network Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC, but she claimed the network did not have her best interests at heart and hired Sue Chrysanthou SC instead.
Her costs were worth more than $700,000 when the claim was filed in 2023, but are reportedly now worth more than $1million.
Ms Wilkinson has not appeared on television for Channel Ten in about two years, but she has continued to receive her full salary of about $44,000 a week. Her contract expires in October.
Ms Wilkinson, Mr FitzSimons and their three children live in a sprawling six-bedroom estate worth up to $40million in Sydney’s well-to-do Cremorne.
They reportedly paid $1.4million for the home and added extensions, including adding a huge master bedroom wing overlooking Sydney Harbour.
Pictured: Wilkinson and FitzSimons’ former home in Mosman, which they sold for $1.6million
Wilkinson also owns a 1970s single bedroom unit in Cremorne that overlooks Sydney Harbour with views of both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House (pictured)
Lehrmann’s defamation case was lodged last year over an interview between Wilkinson and Ms Higgins on Network Ten’s flagship program, The Project, in February 2021.
During the broadcast, Ms Higgins said she was raped inside Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann was not named in the broadcast but claimed colleagues and friends were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.
In the judgment, Justice Lee found Lehrmann was identifiable to others in the broadcast, but he wasn’t defamed because Ms Higgins’ allegations about him were true on a balance of probabilities.
As the loser of the trial, Lehrmann will have to cover the cost of the case for Ms Wilkinson and Network Ten – which has an estimated value of more than $2million.
Bruce Lehrmann is pictured outside the Federal Court in Sydney in November
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