By Editor,Nick Wilson
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Brittany Higgins’ husband David Sharaz suffers crushing blow after social media blunder
READ MORE: Higgins’ lawyers’ personal messages to Linda Reynolds revealed
By NICHOLAS WILSON, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Published: 15:16 BST, 18 September 2025 | Updated: 15:16 BST, 18 September 2025
David Sharaz has been ordered to pay Linda Reynolds more than half a million dollars over social media posts a court found defamed the former senator.
On Thursday, Justice Paul Tottle from the WA Supreme Court ordered Sharaz to pay Reynolds $92,000 in damages plus legal costs that could reach $500,000 over the posts made in 2022 and 2023, reported The Australian.
In addition, he is also jointly liable with his wife, Brittany Higgins, to pay $135,000 in damages over another one of the posts which they made together.
The court found the posts were based on allegations of a ‘cover-up’ by Ms Reynolds which had ‘no basis in fact’.
‘I’m aghast that despite everything you put a staffer through you’re still a minister,’ one post made by Sharaz read.
Another post read: ‘Linda, I see you’, which Justice Tottle said seemed like it was intended to intimidate Reynolds, while a third was a comment agreeing with a post suggesting Reynolds should be in jail.
Separately, Higgins was ordered in the same court to pay Reynolds $315,000 in damages plus $26,000 in interest along with pay 80 per cent of her legal fees, which, combined with her own legal bills, is an estimated $2million bill.
On Wednesday, Higgins’ lawyers accepted a bankruptcy notice served by Reynold’s lawyers, The Australian reported, but also lodged an appeal on the defamation ruling, meaning that any bankruptcy proceedings are stalled until after that is finalised.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz were sued by former Senator Linda Reynolds over a series of social media posts
Reynolds has been awarded half a million dollars in damages and legal costs from Sharaz
Higgins in 2022 had been awarded $2.4million from the Commonwealth as part of an out-of-court settlement over the handling of her 2019 rape allegation against former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.
Two months later, she registered an ABN for the Brittany Higgins Protective Trust, which her lawyer claimed had been established to hold the proceeds of the payout.
As Reynolds’ defamation case was in full swing, the former Senator won a legal bid to obtain the details of that trust so that its funds might be accessed should she win.
However, public records show just a few months before Reynolds did win the suit, the trust’s ABN was cancelled, signalling it was no longer being used for business activity, and Higgins told the court she only has $10,000.
Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, claimed the trust was intended to hold the proceeds of the settlement and that there were no actual or potential creditors at the time it was made.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Quinlan refused to rule on Higgins’ intentions in setting up the trust, but agreed Reynolds’ application to set it aside was the ‘only way’ she might have ‘any hope of recovery of any sum that might be owing to her’.
How much of the $2.4million payout, of which Higgins claimed she received about $1.9million, remains is unclear. Since it was awarded she has had a lavish wedding, international travel and bought a French home she later sold to cover her legal costs.
Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennet has told the court the former Senator was ‘mortgaged to the hilt’ to fund her legal costs – estimated to be over $1million.
In the judgment released last month, it was revealed Higgins offered to settle the matter with a $200,000 payment towards Reynolds’ legal fees to be funded by her parents.
The settlement, which Justice Tottle claimed was ‘unreasonable’, had the requirement the women issue a ‘statement of mutual regret’ and that Reynolds donate $10,000 to a woman’s charity or refuge.
It is just one of the various legal cases that have played out for the last five years during the saga.
A criminal case against Lehrmann was abandoned after juror misconduct and he subsequently lost a defamation case against Network 10 and presenter Lisa Wilkson, who broke the story.
Reynolds is also pursuing separate legal proceedings against the federal government over the settlement it awarded Higgins, claiming it breached its duty to act in her best interests.
Daily Mail contacted Higgins for comment.
Bruce LehrmannBrittany Higgins
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Brittany Higgins’ husband David Sharaz suffers crushing blow after social media blunder
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