Linda Reynolds files bankruptcy application against David Sharaz following blockbuster defamation win

Former senator Linda Reynolds has filed a bankruptcy application against David Sharaz in the Federal Court. Ms Reynolds won a high-profile defamation case against Mr Sharaz and his wife Brittany Higgins after Supreme Court Justice Paul Tottle found a series of social media posts the couple made about the former defence minister defamed her. Ms Reynolds sued Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins in the WA Supreme Court over a series of social media posts the pair made that were critical of how she handled Ms Higgins rape allegation. Mr Sharaz could be liable for up to $220,000 in damages plus legal costs after losing the defamation case. The bankruptcy bid could allow a trustee to sell Mr Sharaz’s assets or claim a portion of his future income to recover the debt. Ms Reynolds’ lawyers filed an application for a substituted service of bankruptcy notice against Mr Sharaz on Monday. A web conference is scheduled for October 15. The Australian reported that Ms Reynolds filed the bankruptcy action after she could not serve a bankruptcy notice. In a statement, the ex-politician said the Bankruptcy Act required bankruptcy notices to be personally served on their recipients. “Predictably, Mr Sharaz has refused to accept personal service of the bankruptcy notice I had issued to him last week,” she said. “This has required me to apply to the court for dispensation from the requirements of personal service at a further significant cost to me. “Mr Sharaz, Ms Higgins and their associates have long adopted a strategy of driving up my legal costs, so this conduct comes as no surprise to me. Despite these tactics, I remain resolute in seeing this through to the end.” Mr Sharaz, an ex-journalist and former senior government media adviser, was found by WA Supreme Court Justice Paul Tottle to have defamed Ms Reynolds a day after his wife lodged an appeal over Justice Tottle’s finding that she had also defamed her former boss. Mr Sharaz is liable to pay damages of up to $220,000 plus legal fees, including $85,000 in damages, for social media posts that defamed Ms Reynolds and $135,000 in damages over another post he and Ms Higgins are both liable for. Ms Higgins was ordered to pay $341,000 in damages and 80 per cent of Ms Reynolds’ legal costs but has appealed the decision in the WA Supreme Court.