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ARTICLE · 17 OCTOBER 2022

Legal Fees And "Wagatha Christie"

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When Rebekah Vardy lost her High Court defamation claim earlier this year against Coleen Rooney, one of the matters left over for determination was the issue of costs.

IrelandLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Lisa Mansfield
Lisa Mansfield
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When Rebekah Vardy lost her High Court defamation claim earlier this year against Coleen Rooney, one of the matters left over for determination was the issue of costs. Ms Vardy lost her case in a unequivocable manner, with the judge concluding that significant parts of her evidence were “manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, evasive or implausible”. It was thus inevitable that costs would follow the event and Ms Vardy would be picking up the bill for a large portion of Ms Rooney's costs.

We now know how much of a bill that will be. On Tuesday, 4 October 2022, the High Court determined that Rebekah Vardy must pay 90% of Ms Rooney's court costs, around £1.5 million. Ms Vardy has also been ordered to pay the legal costs of journalists at the Sun that were involved in the case. This is on top of Ms Vardy's own legal costs. It's not hard to imagine that her legal costs will exceed £3 million when all is said and done.

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