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The 28-year-old had until this afternoon to challenge the April findings of Judge Michael Lee, who dismissed his case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
After a long and closely watched trial, the judge found that the allegations that Lerman raped Higgins in Senator Linda Reynolds’ parliamentary office in March 2019 were likely true.
He sued for defamation over an interview with Higgins that aired in February 2021 on Ten’s The project.
After receiving an extension, Lerman filed notice that he plans to appeal the decision this morning.
The court previously heard that he had no financial backers in his case and his lawyers worked on a no-profit and no-fee basis during the proceedings.
He is expected to be hit with a multi-million dollar legal bill to cover Ten and Wilkinson’s defense costs in the defamation trial.
Judge Lee previously said Wilkinson wanted to recover more than $1.8 million in legal costs.
Exactly how much Ten will want to get back is still unknown.
While the defamation case is winding down, a number of other lawsuits stemming from Higgins’ rape claim are still pending.
They include a defamation suit against Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz by Senator Reynolds over allegations that the Liberal politician and others in parliament worked to cover up the sexual assault.
Judge Lee found these claims to be far from factual and based on speculation, rejecting that Higgins was forced to keep quiet about the alleged crime in order to keep her job.
Lerman denies sexually assaulting Higgins and faces no criminal charges in the incident after his criminal trial was thrown out due to juror misconduct.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Advice Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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