Brittany Higgins may be declared bankrupt today, just weeks after she dropped her appeal against former Liberal Senator Linda Reynold’s defamation win.
Reynolds has applied for a creditors petition against Higgins in a dramatic escalation of her bankruptcy proceedings against her former staffer in the Federal Court.
Reynolds’s legal team reportedly plans to ask the court for a sequestration order allowing a trustee in bankruptcy to take control of Higgins’ financial affairs.
It is unclear whether Higgins intends to oppose the order, first reported by The Australian, though she is not expected to appear in court in person.
Should the court approve the order, the next step would be for a trustee in bankruptcy to take control of Higgins’ financial affairs with Reynolds as a creditor of the estate.
It will move Reynolds one step closer to finding out whether Higgins retains any of the $2.4m payout she received from the Commonwealth following allegations she was raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019.
Higgins is believed to have spent the lion’s share of the payout since it was handed down in 2022, mostly on legal fees.
Higgins was found to have defamed Reynolds in a series of social media posts in 2022 and 2022 the former senator claimed led to her suffering health issues, damaged her reputation and stymied her career.
Former Senator Linda Reynolds (above) has escalated her bankruptcy claim against Higgins
Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz (pictured) defamed the former Senator in a series of social media posts, a court held
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In August, the WA Supreme Court awarded Reynolds $315,000 in damages plus $26,000 in interest and Higgins was ordered to pay 80 per cent of her legal fees, which, combined with her own legal bills, is an estimated $2million bill.
A month later, Higgins’ lawyers lodged an appeal on the defamation ruling, meaning that any bankruptcy proceedings were stalled until after it was finalised.
Higgins abandoned her appeal three weeks ago. She reportedly spent more than $600,000 defending against the defamation claim.
The former defence minister is also pursuing bankruptcy against Higgins’ husband David Sharaz to recover damages for defamation.
He is expected to face a hearing in December.
A federal court justice found on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann has always denied the allegations against him and a criminal trial was aborted and further proceedings were dropped.
Daily Mail has contacted Higgins for comment. Mr Sharaz declined to comment.
