Linda Reynolds seeks advice on bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets in France

Linda Reynolds says she is awaiting advice on whether a bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets could apply in France where the former Liberal staffer she is suing now lives.

The Western Australian senator is suing Higgins, and her partner David Sharaz, in the state’s supreme court over social media posts that contained a list of complaints against the former defence minister.

According to WAtoday, Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, sent a letter to Higgins’ legal representatives in December informing them of plans to issue a freezing order on the couple’s assets ahead of speculation they were moving to France.

A freezing order, if granted by the court, would prevent Higgins and Sharaz, who started a new life in south France last month, from selling assets until after the defamation case has been finalised.

Reynolds, in a statement on Friday, doubled down on the warning: “I am considering my position and awaiting advice from French counsel on my right to enforce an Australian judgment against assets in France.”

Mediation between the parties is listed in the Western Australia’s supreme court for March.

Reynolds filed the writ for defamation against Higgins in August last year after earlier threats she would sue over two posts published on Twitter/X and Instagram.

Court documents show Reynolds is also alleging that Higgins’s posts were in breach of a settlement and release signed in March 2021. That settlement allegedly contained a non-disparagement clause.

“Ms Higgins continues to use the media to make defamatory comments about my conduct notwithstanding the existence of facts and evidence to the contrary and without regard to a non-disparagement clause she agreed to,” Reynolds said in a statement at the time.

“The concerns notice issued on 5 July 2023 to Ms Higgins requested, amongst other things, that she refrain from defaming me, however her conduct following receipt of that notice including her post of 20 July and the unsatisfactory response received from her lawyer is evidence that she has no intention of stopping.”

Reynolds is separately suing the ACT government and former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold.

A writ lodged in the West Australian supreme court in December said Drumgold sent a letter accusing the senator of “disturbing conduct” during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.

Guardian Australia published parts of the letter in which Drumgold alleged to ACT chief police officer, Neil Gaughan, that Reynolds had “engaged in direct coaching of the defence cross-examination of the complainant”.

Lehrmann was accused of raping Higgins on a couch in Reynolds office in Parliament House while both worked for the then minister.

He pleaded not guilty and his first trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct. Prosecutors decided not to seek a second trial due to Higgins’s mental health. Lehrmann has vehemently denied the allegations and has maintained his innocence.