05-10-22, 00:00
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Re: WAGS WAR: Rebekah Vardy to Pay £1.5m of Coleen Rooneys' Legal Costs
Rebekah Vardy Set to Pay £1.5m Towards Coleen Rooneys' Legal Costs
Rebekah Vardy has been ordered to pay 90% of Coleen Rooney's legal costs after losing her Wagatha Christie libel trial - starting with a payment of £800,00 by 4pm on 15 November
Daily Mirror UK 5 OCT 2022
Coleen had sensationally claimed that Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account had leaked stories about her family
Rebekah has always denied any wrong doing but previously claimed the judge "didn't understand the case"
Rebekah Vardy plotting Wagatha TV 'revenge' as Coleen Rooney nets new documentary
Rebekah Vardy is set to pay Coleen Rooney around £1.5million in legal costs.
Footballer Jamie Vardy's wife, 40, sensationally lost to Coleen, 36, in July after a seven-day blockbuster trial famously dubbed 'Wagatha Christie'.
Rebekah launched libel proceedings against Coleen in 2020 after Wayne Rooney's wife accused her account of leaking "false stories" about her private life. However, their two-and-a-half year feud concluded after Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in Coleen's favour.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mrs Justice Steyn stated the total legal bill - which Coleen is yet to finalise with the court - was estimated by her lawyer Paul Lunt to be around £1,667,860.48
Rebekah has been ordered to pay £800,000 within six weeks and to pay 90% of the costs, which are yet to be revealed.
She will also have to pay costs incurred by seven journalists who were potential witnesses but did not give evidence – apart from a portion of their costs which Mrs Rooney has already been ordered to pay.
Mrs Justice Steyn explained that she had done "the best" she could to "estimate the likely level of recovery" but while bearing in mind that Defendant had not yet produced a bill, the cost would be around £800,000.
Rebekah Vardy has been slammed by the friends of her agent
She wrote of Rebekah's action: "The claim has been dismissed. The defendant succeeded in establishing that the essence of the libel was *substantially true."
The judgment also revealed Coleen wanted 100% of her costs paid and Rebekah wanted to pay 80% as the judge had found in her favoure for several matters disputed at the trial.
The document goes on to state that the defendant had originally sought payment of £1.25million but this figure was later dropped to £ 1million.
Coleen incurred total costs of more than £2 million, but £350,000 of those had already been racked up before the trial in May, so those were removed to produce a final figure of £1,667,860.
Rebekah argued that she should not be made to pay the full costs due to three matters during which she was successful including that of the 'Secret WAG' newspaper column.
Rebekah Vardy has been forced by a High Court to pay 90% Coleen Rooney's legal fees
She also argued that Coleen's "Reveal Post" caused serious harm and argued against Coleen's claim that the Post was in the public interest.
The total amount of Rebekah’s legal costs is not known, but is expected to be of a similar level to those incurred by Coleen.
A statement from Coleen's lawyer, Paul Lunt at Brabners issued to The Mirror read: "The High Court has today decided that Rebekah Vardy must pay Coleen Rooney's legal costs on an indemnity basis - the highest basis that the Court could order.
"The reasoning given for this decision is that there was a finding at trial that Rebekah Vardy had deliberately deleted or destroyed evidence. That behaviour falls outside the ordinary and reasonable conduct expected of a party in legal proceedings.
"This followed a separate finding regarding the loss of evidence that was in the possession of Rebekah Vardy's former agent, Caroline Watt.
"Coleen's pursuit of that evidence is a major reason why her legal costs increased substantially from the original estimates given to the court long before the start of the trial.
"Rebekah Vardy has been ordered to pay £800,000 to Coleen Rooney by 15 November as an interim payment until the final total she must pay is either agreed or decided upon by the court.
"Naturally, Rebekah will also be responsible for her own legal costs of bringing her failed libel action against Coleen
"Today's decision also makes Rebekah liable to pay for legal costs incurred by certain journalists from News UK, publishers of The Sun newspaper, following her unsuccessful efforts to involve them in the proceedings."
Coleen had sensationally claimed that Rebekah's Instagram account had leaked several stories to the British media, including claims the basement of her Cheshire home had flooded and Coleen was planning a return to television work.
Rebekah always denied she passed on the information but in the High Court, Coleen effectively won the battle of the Wags.
Following the judgement, Rebekah expressed her disappointment in the verdict.
The former Dancing On Ice contestant claimed Mrs Justice "didn't understand the case," and "didn't look at everything", before going on to claim that she "just read what was written in the media".
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