Former WA judge Rene Le Miere: generous verdicts
On Friday (August 2) Brittany Higgins commences her third trial since, according to Justice Michael Lee’s findings, she was raped on Senator Linda Reynolds’ (Lib. WA) parliamentary couch on March 23, 2019.
Reynolds says she has been brought into public odium etc. by Higgins’ social media posts that allege she was insufficiently caring and supportive after the rape. This was against the background of the campaign for the May 2019 federal election.
You can slog through all the relevant pleadings here:
Linda Reynolds second further re-amended statement of claim, June 27, 2024
Brittany Higgins second further re-amended defence, July 8, 2024
Linda Reynolds further amended reply, July 9, 2024
Linda may feel confident as she goes back for her hat after an earlier defamation round with Higgins over the “lying cow” drama.
The WA Supreme Court is not exactly a haven for defenders of free speech and in recent years has handed down some stonking awards of damages.
Former prosecutor Lloyd Rayney in his action against the WA Police was awarded $2.6 million and another $350,000 against a forensic investigator who said there was no need for a cold case review because he knew who killed Rayney’s wife.
In 2022, Justice Rene Le Miere awarded a company director $602,000 following a boardroom stoush.
Erotic author: former MP Dennis Jensen
In 2021, the same judge decided that a technology entrepreneur should have $400,000 from the Financial Review over claims she used social media to spruik her blockchain venture. Aggravated damages were awarded after journalist Aaron Patrick helpfully penned an opinion piece criticising the proceedings, saying the case was sucking up resources that could be used to fund investigative journalism.
In 2020, The Catholic Boys Daily was slugged $325,000 by the Supremes after reporting that former Liberal MP Dennis Jensen used his parliamentary letterhead to shop a bonkbuster novel he’d written.
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Justice Paul Tottle is the man in the Reynolds v Higgins saddle. He’s been a judge since 2015 and a rare instance of a judicial appointment from the ranks of the amalgam – WA’s peculiar combination of barrister and solicitor.
He’s a transplanted Englishman, but been here since 1986. He set up his own boutique law shop Tottle Partners after a stint as a partner at Clayton Utz.
Justice Tottle (centre) with the CJ and Justice Janine Pritchard at Gov HouseHe’s handled a few defamation cases, including a recent one where he awarded damages of $180,000 to a lowly ranked official in the Media Monitoring Unit of the Department of Premier and Cabinet who had been charged with fraud over travel claims.
Tottle gave Stokes’ Worst Australian quite the birching saying its report was not a summary of official proceedings, and if it was, it was not a fair summary.
He’s has also been case managing the long running Poland v Hedley proceedings, which kicked off in court in 2019 – the case brought by the property developer Greg Poland against WA Today, Nine’s local online news offering.
Some of Tottle’s rulings that were favourable to the defendants have been overturned by the Court of Appeal – so on it drags.