In the latest twist of the Wagatha Christie libel battle, Rebekah Vardy has been ordered to pay Coleen Rooney a further £100,000 ahead of the full amount owed being decided.
Barristers for the two have appeared in court in a dispute over legal costs after Mrs Vardy lost her High Court claim against Mrs Rooney in 2022.
It followed Mrs Rooney accusing Mrs Vardy of leaking her private information to the press on social media, with Wednesday marking five years since the viral social media post at the heart of the dispute.
Mrs Vardy was later ordered to pay 90% of Mrs Rooney's fees, with an initial payment of £800,000.
But at the end of the hearing, which began on Monday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker ordered Mrs Vardy to pay a further £100,000 to Mrs Rooney within 21 days.
He said: "I think there is some scope for a further payment on account so the defendant (Mrs Rooney) is not kept out of her costs, and I think that should be no more than £100,000."
The hearing, which neither woman attended, dealt with several preliminary issues before a full "line-by-line" assessment of costs takes place at a later date, which will decide the overall amount of money to be paid.
Judge Gordon-Saker said this could take place in early 2025, but added: "The parties need to get on with this and put it behind them."
He said: "Realistically, it (the line-by-line assessment) is probably going to be next year, hopefully early next year."
In 2019, Mrs Rooney, the wife of former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, publicly claimed Mrs Vardy's account was the source behind three stories in The Sun newspaper featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram profile – her travelling to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
After the high-profile trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in Mrs Rooney’s favour in July 2022, finding the post was "substantially true" and that it was "likely" Mrs Vardy’s agent, Caroline Watt, had passed information to The Sun.
She added Mrs Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, "knew of and condoned this behaviour".
At the latest hearing, Jamie Carpenter KC, representing Mrs Vardy, said in written submissions that Mrs Rooney’s claimed legal bill ran to £1,833,906.89, which was more than three times her "agreed costs budget of £540,779.07".
He said the bill was "drawn without sufficient care" and had "a 'kitchen sink’ approach", and included "over £120,000 of costs to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement".
But Robin Dunne, for Mrs Rooney, said in his written submissions that Mrs Vardy had shown "deplorable conduct" in the case and that costs could have been lower if "she conducted this litigation appropriately".
He added: "It sits ill in Mrs Vardy’s mouth to now claim that Mrs Rooney’s costs, a great deal of which were caused directly by her conduct, are unreasonable."
Source: Press Association
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