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Seven pursues Amber Harrison over legal costs

Seven legal drama isn't done yet, with Amber Harrison likely to file for bankruptcy if she is forced to pay legal costs.

Just when you thought it was all but over….

Seven is pursuing Amber Harrison for legal costs following its ongoing legal stoush with the former executive assistant who had an affair with CEO Tim Worner.

On Friday Harrison instructed lawyers not to represent her in court, indicating she was walking away from her fight with Seven. She will also withdraw her separate claim in the Federal Court alleging she had been unfairly targeted for credit card misuse.

But the matter returned to the Supreme Court today as Seven sought a permanent order restraining her from speaking publicly.

Lawyers for Seven appeared in court, including Sydney barrister Andrew Bell, SC, and Seven’s commercial director Bruce McWilliam.

Today Seven sought a raft of orders against Harrison, including the gag order and an order that she pay all of Seven’s legal costs on an indemnity basis, which would cover its entire legal bill.

The court heard Harrison had not consented to all of the orders sought by Seven.

In court Seven lawyers claimed she previously tried to destroy the reputation of another executive at a Sydney radio station.

“We have a defendant here, regrettably, who is completely and utterly reckless with regard to other people … and who has used now, in at least two instances, contacts in the media to humiliate and embarrass people,” Andrew Bell said.

Seven’s legal costs are estimated to be around $250,000.

Harrison has indicated if the court orders costs against her, “I will file for bankruptcy immediately,” she said in an email to The Australian Financial Review.

“I wouldn’t ‘apologise’ for 50k. So this is where we land.”

Harrison tweeted today:

https://twitter.com/_Amber_Harrison/status/884222564754534400

Justice John Sackar said out of an “abundance of caution” Harrison should be contacted by telephone about her response to the orders sought.

https://twitter.com/_Amber_Harrison/status/884250003861983232

On Friday she indicated she was willing to apologise to other Seven employees named in her Human Rights Commission complaint.

The current case is expected to take 4 days.

On the weekend Fairfax Media published a lengthy profile of Seven’s legal go-to man Bruce McWilliam, it described as “the man media moguls trust to make messy problems go away.”

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review.

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