Court documents have revealed Bruce Lehrmann refused an offer to settle with Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson before his failed defamation case had begun hearings.

Council of the City of Sydney

Bruce Lehrmann refused an offer to settle with Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson before the hearings of his failed defamation case began, according to court documents. The offer from Network Ten proposed a "walk-away deal" with no liabilities, admissions, or costs involved. Lehrmann rejected this offer rapidly, within a couple of hours of receiving it. This refusal came after he had settled with News.com but before reaching a settlement with the ABC, which occurred on the day the defamation hearing started.

Lehrmann had initiated the defamation hearing following the abandonment of his criminal trial over an alleged rape, which concluded with no findings against him. Following his rejection of Network Ten's settlement offer, the trial proceeded to court towards the end of last year. The court is currently deliberating on the issue of legal costs associated with the case. While the precise amount Network Ten is seeking from Lehrmann has not been disclosed, it is understood that the network's legal expenses since their initial settlement offer will be significant.

On the other side, Lehrmann is also seeking to recover some legal costs. His rationale for rejecting Network Ten's settlement offer was the potential loss of an opportunity for vindication. Lehrmann's request for costs is aimed at covering the expenses his legal team incurred in preparing to counter the qualified privilege defense raised by Network Ten, despite the network successfully defending on the basis of truth. The outcome of Lehrmann's cost recovery efforts remains uncertain.

An upcoming hearing in the federal court scheduled for next week will see further developments in this legal battle, focusing particularly on the costs. However, the resolution regarding the payment of Lisa Wilkinson's personal legal expenses by Network Ten may not be immediately determined and could depend on the broader resolution of costs in the case.



Bruce Lehrmann refused settlement before court case

Well, TEN made an offer of a walk-away deal where there'd be no liabilities and no admissions and no costs. And Bruce Lemon was given a little bit of time to respond to this, and he responded within a couple of hours and said no, he rejected it outright. This was, of course, after he'd settled with News.com, but before he'd settled with the ABC, which was on the day the defamation hearing began. The defamation hearing, of course, was launched by Mr. Lemon after his criminal trial over the alleged rape was abandoned with no findings against him. And so with the rejection of that offer from TEN, then we went ahead with the trial at the end of last year. And Liz, the courts are now considering the question of costs in this matter. Do we know how much TEN is seeking from Lemon? Well, we haven't seen a figure, but TEN wants its costs from about August last year, which will be substantial, and that's from the period when they made the first offer. So that would be a lot of money. Interestingly, Mr. Lemon himself is seeking some costs. He said that one of the reasons he rejected the offer was that he would lose his opportunity for vindication. So now he's seeking costs for the time that his lawyers put into trying to defend the qualified privilege defence that TEN had. Now, they won on their truth defence, but they didn't get anywhere on their qualified privilege defence. So he's seeking money to pay his lawyers for preparing to defend that. Whether he succeeds or not, we'll have to wait and see. But it looks like there's an almighty battle brewing. And what happens next in that almighty battle? Well, there'll be a hearing next week in the federal court where this will be battled out. One thing, though, that may not be resolved next week is just how much TEN has to pay of Lisa Wilkinson's personal legal costs. That might be something that can't be determined until the general costs are worked out. So we'll just have to wait for that.

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