Justice Lee’s judgement began his costs judgement by thrashing Network Ten for wrongly claiming it won the defamation case, when it lost the qualified privilege defence.
He slammed a speech delivered by a solicitor for Ten, Justin Quill, who spoke outside court after the judgement in April and misrepresented the judgement.
Mr Quill had said the fact that the criminal trial was moved in the wake of Wilkinson’s speech represented a concerning ‘lack of faith’ in the jury system.
‘That we would think that [a jury] would, sitting in a criminal proceeding, hear sworn evidence, watch witnesses sometimes get torn apart by cross-examination … and somehow go against all of that because they saw an implication in a Logies speech sometime earlier,’ he said.
‘I just don’t agree with that concept.’
In court on Friday, Justice Lee said, ‘for anyone taking the trouble to read the judgement would conclude’ the judgement was mixed and the network only won the truth defence.
‘The reality of mixed findings has been somewhat obscured in the public statements of the respondents [Channel 10],’ he said.
Justice Lee said the qualified privilege argument was not ‘hopeless’, but it was ‘weak’.
He also slammed the network for complying with conditions set by Brittany Higgins in order for her testimony.
He referred to an email the network received from Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier, asking that no payment or apology be given to Lehrmann to settle the matter.
She also requested that Lisa Wilkinson not be allowed to hire Sue Chrysanthou SC as her barrister.
Ms Higgins was not a party to the proceedings, she was only a witness.
During a costs hearing last week, he said: ‘Ms Higgins’ solicitor sent an email to your solicitor which said that they’re not going to cooperate where Ms Wilkinson has briefed Ms Chrysanthou and it’s important for your clients to know they will not offer Mr Lehrmann a payment or any other relief to settle the claim.
‘Now, that came a few days after your solicitor received a letter from Ms Wilkinson’s solicitor where Ms Wilkinson asserted that it seems plain that Ten is seeking to pressure Ms Wilkinson into abandoning her representation.’
The judge said Ten’s boss Bev McGarvey then said Wilkinson should not have the counsel of her choice.
On Friday, Justice Lee said the network should have issued Ms Higgins with a subpoena and then he would have been ordered to appear on the stand and tell the truth.