Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Rebekah Vardy has challenged the “sheer magnitude” of the legal costs claimed by Coleen Rooney from their 2022 libel trial, which was dubbed the Wagatha Christie dispute, in the High Court. Mrs Vardy lost the case after a judge ruled that it was “substantially true” that she had leaked Mrs Rooney’s private information to the press, and was ordered to pay over £1.8m in costs, including a stay at a luxury hotel, drinks and items from the mini-bar for one of her lawyers, Mrs Vardy’s barrister said. Mrs Rooney’s barrister argued that the costs could have been lower if Mrs Vardy had “conducted this litigation appropriately”.
In written submissions for Monday’s hearing, Jamie Carpenter KC, representing Mrs Vardy, said that Mrs Rooney’s total included costs for a lawyer who stayed “at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges”. He added that the bill was “drawn without sufficient care”, had “a ‘kitchen sink’ approach”, and included “over £120,000 of costs to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement”. Her legal bill was said in October 2022 to total £1,667,860, but has now risen to £1,833,907.
Robin Dunne, representing Mrs Rooney, argued that Mrs Vardy had shown “deplorable conduct” in the case and had chosen to launch the libel action “despite knowing that the Instagram post was true”. He added that “there has been no misconduct” on Mrs Rooney’s side, and it was “illogical to say that we misled anyone”. Neither Mrs Rooney nor Mrs Vardy attended the hearing before Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker on Monday, which will conclude on Wednesday.
Mrs Rooney, the wife of former England captain Wayne Rooney, was given the nickname Wagatha Christie in 2019 after she conducted a sting operation to find out who had leaked stories about her from her private Instagram to the Sun newspaper. Mrs Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, then sued her for libel, and the trial attracted huge interest when it reached court two years ago. Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Mrs Rooney’s accusation was “substantially true”, saying it was likely Mrs Vardy “knew of, condoned and was actively engaged” in the process of leaking stories about Mrs Rooney to the Sun in collaboration with Mrs Vardy’s agent, Caroline Watt. Mrs Vardy went on to trademark the phrase “Wagatha Christie” after losing the case
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.