Bruce Lehrmann has appeared in Federal Court in Sydney today to appeal his defamation case loss to Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson.

Lehrmann is appealing last year’s decision by Justice Michael Lee that, on the balance of probabilities, he did rape Britanny Higgins at Parliament House in 2019. However, Lehrmann has not been found guilty in any criminal trial.

The appeal, which began today, will be heard by three justices, Michael Wigney, Craig Colvin and Wendy Abraham over three days.

Lehrmann’s legal team is appealing the decision based on several grounds. According to Zali Burrows, Lehrmann’s sole representative today, Justice Lee’s judgement was different to the case put forward by Network 10 and Wilkinson.

One of the primary ground was an incongruence in how rape was represented in the case.

“It was pleaded as a violent rape, when His Honour found it was a non-violent rape,” she said.

Burrows argues that Lehrmann was denied procedural fairness because the rape was described by Justice Lee without giving Lehrmann a chance to respond. However, Justice Wigney says that Lehrmann has claimed there was no sexual intercourse at all.

Wigney says it wouldn’t have made sense for Lehrmann to answer questions about something he denied.

Justice Colvin also questioned the logic of the argument.

“I don’t understand the logic of the submission,” he said.

The appeal also challenges the decision by Justice Lee to reject The Project‘s representation of a violent sexual assault, but still rule in favour of Network 10 and Wilkinson.

After reviewing all the evidence, Justice Lee said, at the time, he was not satisfied with what Higgins had said on her interview on The Project.

“On balance, I find it is more likely than not that she was passive … during the entirety of the sexual act,” he said.

But he did find that Lehrmann was reckless.

“In his pursuit of gratification, he did not care one way or another whether Ms Higgins understood or agreed to what was going on.”

This contributed to Justice Lee’s final decision.

Lehrmann sued Network 10 and Wilkinson after an interview with Higgins on The Project in 2021, where Higgins detailed her rape allegations. Although Higgins did not name Lehrmann, he claims he was identifiable and defamed.

Lehrmann still maintains his innocence.

Photo: Network 10 by Gareth Edwards is found HERE and used under a creative commons licence. This image has not been modified.