Coleen Rooney disputes “misleading” claims made by Rebekah Vardy at the High Court over what she must tell Coleen over her 2022 Wagasa libel trial Rooney questions ‘huge’ fee paid
The judge ruled that Mrs. Vardy leaked Mrs. Rooney’s private information to the media was “substantially true” and was ordered to pay 90% of Mrs. Rooney’s costs, which amounted to more than 1.8 million pounds. Mrs. Vardy lost the lawsuit.
Robin Dunne, representing Mrs Rooney in the costs dispute, said on Tuesday that claims made in court on Monday about hotel expenses incurred by lawyers representing her in 2022 were “factually incorrect”.
KC Jamie Carpenter, for Mrs Vardy, said Mrs Rooney’s total expenses included the lawyer’s stay at “the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drink charges and minibar charges”.
But Dunn noted that the allegations had been widely reported in the media as “evidence of the defendants’ spending spree” and said they were “potentially defamatory” and that action would be taken.
He added that a “normal” hotel had been booked for the lawyer but there was no Wi-Fi or working showers for the first night, so he was moved to the Nobu Hotel after Mrs Rooney’s agent said she could get a discount.
Rooms at Nobu normally cost £650 but were charged £295, which he said was the same price as a Premier Inn room.
Responding to the suggestion that £225 was spent on food and the minibar bill, Mr Dunne said the minibar bill for two bottles of water was actually £7 and that the lawyer did not eat at the Nobu restaurant during his stay.
Senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Sackell dismissed a claim by Mrs Vardy that Mrs Rooney’s use of London-based law firm Stewart was “unreasonable” and that she should look for one closer to where she lives in the north west law firm.
Mr Gordon-Sack said: “This has been a high-profile case, attracting extensive national and international media coverage.
“Defamation remains a specialist area and most firms specializing in defamation are based in central London.”
Regarding the scale of the claim and the importance of the “reputational damage” caused by the matter, he said “it was a reasonable choice to instruct lawyers in central London”.
The judge also dismissed Mrs Vardy’s claim that Mrs Rooney consulted her solicitor David Sherborne on 30 occasions, costing her almost £500,000, as unreasonable.
Mr Gordon-Sack added that Mrs Vardy’s actions – particularly the destruction of evidence – “added complexity” and “clearly demonstrated that the rates were outside the guidelines of the most experienced solicitors”.
But he did say less experienced attorneys should be charged lower hourly rates.
Mrs Rooney, the wife of former England captain Wayne Rooney, who was nicknamed “Wagatha Christie” in 2019, previously said she carried out a sting operation to find out who sent messages from her private Instagram The Sun leaked the story about her. She concluded: “This is… Rebecca Vardy’s account.”
The post led to Mrs Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, suing her for libel and sparked considerable interest when the case was heard in court two years ago.
Judge Steyn ruled Mrs Rooney’s allegations were “substantially true” and said Mrs Vardy was likely “aware of, condoned and actively participated” in working with Mrs Vardy’s agent Caroline to leak information about Mrs Rooney to The Sun. The process of the story.
Mrs Rooney called the trial “horrible” in an interview with British Vogue last year.
She suggested she could not forgive Mrs Vardy for her libelous accusations but said “relief is everything in victory”.
After losing the case, Mrs Vardy went on to trademark the term “Wagatha Christie”.
The case is also The inspiration for the Olivier Award-nominated playVardy v Rooney: The Wagasa Christie Trial.
