Rebekah Vardy has been instructed to pay Coleen Rooney £100,000 this month as part of the ongoing costs from the high-profile 2022 “Wagatha Christie” libel case.
This follows Mrs. Vardy’s loss in the legal battle, where she was ordered to cover 90% of Mrs. Rooney’s legal expenses.
The case began when Mrs. Rooney accused Mrs. Vardy of leaking her private information to the press, an allegation that the court ruled as “substantially true.”
Initially, the costs were agreed upon at £540,779, but they have since ballooned to £1.8 million.
This week, lawyers for both parties returned to court to dispute the legal costs. Mrs. Vardy’s legal team argued that Mrs.
Rooney’s lawyers had understated the original legal bill by £120,000 and raised concerns about extravagant costs, including stays at luxury hotels.
However, Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker dismissed many of Mrs. Vardy’s claims, ruling that while there was a “lack of transparency,” it did not amount to legal misconduct. He ordered Mrs.
Vardy to make a further payment of £100,000 within 21 days.
The total amount Mrs. Vardy will eventually pay is still under review, with a line-by-line assessment of the legal fees set to take place next year.
Though Mrs. Vardy has already paid £800,000, additional payments may be ordered once the full costs are reviewed.
The case stems from Mrs. Rooney’s 2019 social media post accusing Mrs. Vardy of leaking stories to the Sun newspaper, a claim that led to the libel trial. In July 2022, the court ruled that Mrs. Vardy had likely been involved in the leaks alongside her agent, Caroline Watt.
The legal dispute over costs is expected to continue into next year.
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