Sharaz hit with hefty damages bill as Higgins appeals in wake of Reynolds defamation row

Brittany Higgins’ husband David Sharaz faces paying as much as $220,000 to former West Australian senator Linda Reynolds after her high-profile defamation win.

A court order published late on Thursday held Sharaz liable for $85,000 in damages for tweets, an Instagram post and a Facebook comment that were defamatory of the former cabinet minister.

Sharaz and Higgins were also found to be jointly liable for $135,000 in damages over a tweet in which he falsely accused Reynolds of having involvement in pressuring Higgins not to continue with a police complaint after she was allegedly raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Reynolds’ ministerial office.

Reynolds may recover that payout from Sharaz or Higgins – or both – but cannot get more than $135,000.

Sharaz chose to bow out of the defamation fight last year, saying he could no longer afford to fight the action, which centred on several social media posts he made in 2022.

In those posts, outlined in Thursday’s damages order, Sharaz accused Reynolds of “bullying” Higgins and interfering in Lehrmann’s criminal trial.

In a tweet responding to a post Reynolds had made, Sharaz said: “I’m aghast that despite everything you put a staffer through you’re still a minister, but we can all be surprised.”

Sharaz later shared that exchange as an Instagram story, adding the caption, “Linda, I see you”, which Justice Paul Tottle said was a statement with “intimidatory overtones”.

“It was a sentiment repeated with a slight variation in a social media post published by the defendant on 3 December 2022,” Tottle said in his decision.

“It is a seriously aggravating feature of the Instagram story.”

Sharaz was ordered to pay Reynolds $30,000 for that tweet and Instagram story, while the Facebook comment from December 2022 resulted in a $20,000 damages award.

Reynolds was awarded another $35,000 for a tweet Sharaz made days later, on December 4, 2022, in which he also accused her of leaking “privileged information” to the media.

Sharaz must also pay interest at 3 per cent a year from when the posts were made, which totals more than $7000 for the damages he is solely liable for. He was also ordered to pay Reynolds’ costs.

Sharaz’s damages bill came the day after Higgins filed an appeal against her own damages and costs orders.

The appeals, lodged by Higgins’ lawyer Carmel Galati in the WA Supreme Court on Wednesday, challenge Tottle’s August and September decisions, which awarded Reynolds $315,000 damages and $26,109 interest, and ordered Higgins to cover 80 per cent of the former senator’s legal costs.

Those costs included fees for high-profile Perth barrister Martin Bennett, who represented Reynolds during the five-week defamation trial in 2024.

Tottle found Higgins had falsely alleged that Reynolds harassed her and mishandled her rape complaint against Lehrmann.

In the later ruling, Tottle said a last-minute settlement proposal Higgins made in the days before the trial began was not reasonable, and did not contain an apology to vindicate Reynolds’ reputation.

Higgins had offered for her parents to pay Reynolds $200,000, and for her to take a $10,000 loan to donate to a women’s charity or shelter.

The case arose after the alleged 2019 rape of Higgins in Reynolds’ office by fellow staffer Lehrmann, and the political firestorm that followed her going public in 2021.

Higgins later received a $2.4 million compensation pay-out from the federal government.

Lehrmann’s criminal trial in 2022 was aborted due to juror misconduct, but it was later found to have been proved to the civil standard that Lehrmann had raped Higgins, following a separate defamation trial he initiated against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.

Lehrmann is currently appealing that decision.

Reynolds, who retired from politics last year, must now decide whether to contest Higgins’ appeals.

If she does, she is required to file a response in the Court of Appeal within seven days of service of the notice.

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