Rebekah Vardy not giving up as she launches appeal against Wagatha Christie £1.8m costs ruling

1 November 2024, 21:08

Rebekah Vardy 'threatens to reignite war with Coleen Rooney'
Rebekah Vardy 'threatens to reignite war with Coleen Rooney'. Picture: Alamy

By Henry Moore

In a new twist to the infamous Wagatha Christie case, Rebekah Vardy has launched an appeal bid against the cash she was ordered to pay Coleen Rooney.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Lawyers for the two women returned to the High Court last month in a bid to confirm how much money Vardy should pay Rooney after she lost her 2022 libel case.

Mrs Rooney had accused Mrs Vardy of leaking her private information to the press, with Wednesday marking the fifth anniversary of the viral social media post at the heart of the dispute.

Mrs Vardy sued her for libel, but Mrs Justice Steyn found in July 2022 that the allegation was "substantially true", ordering Vardy to pay Rooney a whopping £800,000.

Read more: Coleen Rooney 'signs up for I’m A Celeb' in wake of latest Wagatha Christie win

Read more: Rebekah Vardy ordered to pay Coleen Rooney further £100,000 after latest Wagatha Christie court battle

Last month she was ordered to pay a further £100,000.

This week, lawyers for the women appeared in court as Vardy attempts to have the cash she is expected to pay out reduced.

Coleen Rooney is rumoured to be appearing in this year's I'm A Celeb
Coleen Rooney is rumoured to be appearing in this year's I'm A Celeb. Picture: Alamy

In a three-day hearing, lawyers for Mrs Vardy - the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - argued that the sum should be reduced due to what they said was "serious misconduct" by Mrs Rooney's legal team, who allegedly "deliberately understated" her costs.

But Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker found "on balance and, I have to say, only just", that Mrs Rooney's legal team had not committed wrongdoing, and therefore it was "not an appropriate case" to reduce the amount of money that Mrs Vardy should pay.

Court documents revealed today show that Vardy has launched an appeal bid over the amount she was ordered to pay Rooney.

The previous hearing in London was told that Mrs Rooney's claimed legal bill - £1,833,906.89 - was more than three times her "agreed costs budget of £540,779.07", which Jamie Carpenter KC, for Mrs Vardy, said was "disproportionate".

Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy
Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy. Picture: Getty

He claimed that Mrs Rooney's legal team had committed misconduct by understating some of her costs so she could "use the apparent difference in incurred costs thereby created to attack the other party's costs", which was "knowingly misleading".

Robin Dunne, for Mrs Rooney, said that "there has been no misconduct" and that it was "illogical to say that we misled anyone".

He added that the argument that the amount owed should be reduced was "misconceived" and that the budget was "not designed to be an accurate or binding representation" of her overall legal costs.

Judge Gordon-Saker ruled that while there was a "failure to be transparent", it was not "sufficiently unreasonable or improper" to constitute misconduct.

He ordered Mrs Vardy to pay Mrs Rooney a further £100,000 ahead of the full amount owed being decided at a later date.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Palma is on lockdown amid warnings of heavy rain

Majorca on lockdown as tourist hotspot faces flooding horror after storm kills more than 200

UK GP visiting senior woman at home

Care homes and GPs could face closure under Labour tax plans, health leaders warn

Alexandra Palace Hosts Its Annual Fireworks Display Ahead Of Bonfire Night

Bonfire night 2024 forecast: What will the weather be like for fireworks night?

Darrian Williams

Two teen boys found guilty after 16-year-old stabbed to death by masked attackers in Bristol park

Westminster Protest

'Betrayed' farmers to protest over Labour's inheritance tax raid - as Chancellor insists changes are 'fair'

Police crime scene tape UK

Six teenagers arrested after 13-year-old girl left with life-threatening injuries in East Yorkshire stabbing

Israel claims to have killed a high-ranking member of Hamas

Israel 'eliminates' one of Hamas' last high-ranking officials

Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend a Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

King Charles 'finally cuts Prince Andrew off' as he 'axes Duke's annual £1m allowance'

Claw hammer-wielding public schoolboy who attacked sleeping students and teacher handed life sentence

Pictured: Public schoolboy, 17, who attacked sleeping students and teacher with hammers he kept 'for zombie apocalypse'

Emergency and rescue personnel work at the site where a concrete outdoor roof of a train station collapsed in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad

Train station canopy collapses in Serbia, killing 8 people in horror accident, with more victims still trapped in rubble

The passengers was fined £48 despite their bag fitting.

Air passenger shames easyJet on TikTok after he was charged £48 for carry-on bag that fit perfectly into size checker

Gabriel Silvera and  Dragos Carabineanu

Thug kills father with one punch after being asked for a cigarette outside Tube station

File photo dated 26/07/24 of Ben Stokes. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, England’s Test and limited-overs captains respectively, have each signed new two-year central contracts. Issue date: Thursday October 31, 2024.

Man arrested after home of England cricket captain Ben Stokes raided by masked burglars

Claw hammer-wielding public schoolboy who attacked sleeping students and teacher handed life sentence

Hammer-wielding public schoolboy who attacked two sleeping students and a teacher named

Tube strikes have been called off

Tube strikes called off after significantly improved pay offer, union announces

Two people look out over an area affected by floods in Chiva, Spain

More than 200 confirmed dead in 'devastating' flash floods as red rain alert issued for Spanish region