Bruce Lehrmann will be able to appeal the result of his failed defamation case after a federal court judge dismissed an application to have him pay a 'security of costs' upfront. Mr Lehrmann lost his case against network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson when justice Michael Lee found on the balance of probabilities the former liberal staffer had raped Brittany Higgins at parliament house.
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00:00Bruce Lamman is appealing against the findings that Justice Michael Lee imposed and part
00:08of his defeat involves a cost order where he was compelled to pay Network 10 $2 million.
00:16He was asking the court to impose a stay on that cost order which effectively means that
00:2110 can't chase him for that money until the appeal has run its course and there is an
00:26outcome.
00:27For its part, Network 10 was asking for a security of costs of $200,000 and that's money
00:34that would be set aside by Mr Lamman to pay for Network 10's legal fees in the event that
00:40he does lose this appeal.
00:42Today he needed to clear both of those hurdles in order for his appeal to proceed.
00:47Today the court ruled in Mr Lamman's favour in both counts, it means he doesn't have to
00:52pay this $2 million cost order until the appeal has run its course and he also doesn't
00:57need to pay the $200,000 security and that's because he put forward an argument that he
01:04was bankrupt and financially destitute and today the court enforced this general legal
01:10principle which involves the concept that poverty is no bar to a litigant.
01:17It's an access to justice principle and it essentially means that a person should have
01:21a right to appeal even if they're impecunious or financially destitute.
01:27Justice Wendy Abraham effectively upheld that today and she also rejected 10's argument
01:32that there was no public interest in this appeal and she said that Mr Lamman was up
01:38against an extremely serious finding and that not being able to appeal that or defend that
01:44would be extremely serious for him and have a big impact on him.
01:48The findings have been published online and we've brought you all of the coverage from
01:53that this morning.
01:54The parties will meet in a fortnight to be able to determine just how long that appeal
01:59will run for and what its terms of reference will include and it looks like at this stage
02:05March will be the time frame for that appeal to run its course.