Coleen Rooney claims her authorized charges throughout her high-profile authorized battle with Rebekah Vardy got here as much as over £1.8m, the Excessive Courtroom has been informed.
Returning to court docket two years after the unique trial, the ladies’s attorneys have returned to court docket in a dispute over authorized prices.
The case, which gained worldwide consideration after it got here to court docket in the summertime of 2022, was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” in a nod to the well-known British crime novelist and Rooney’s detective expertise.
She did so by way of a social media publish in 2019 which went viral, receiving over 370,000 engagements on Twitter, together with nearly 50,000 retweets.
Vardy then sued Rooney over the publish, with the case heard over 9 days on the Excessive Courtroom in 2022, finally dropping the authorized motion.
The choose overseeing the case, Mrs Justice Steyn, discovered the publish to be “substantially true”, and ordered Vardy to pay 90% of Rooney’s authorized prices.
After successful the case, Rooney mentioned it ought to by no means have gone to court docket “when the money could have been far better spent helping others”.
Within the newest growth within the case, Vardy’s attorneys say Rooney has claimed a authorized invoice totalling £1,833,906.89. They are saying a part of these prices are charges for a five-star lodge and swanky restaurant.
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Rebekah Vardy with husband Jamie outdoors the Excessive Courtroom in 2022. Pic: PA
A number of the prices claimed labelled ‘extraordinary’
In written submissions for a listening to on Monday, Jamie Carpenter KC, who’s representing Vardy, described a invoice for a lawyer staying “at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges”.
He mentioned: “The costs dispute has been rendered particularly intractable by the sheer magnitude of the costs claimed by Mrs Rooney, in absolute terms and when compared to her agreed costs budget, the number of errors in the bill and the extraordinary nature of some of the costs claimed.
“The invoice, drawn at 100% of the prices claimed… totals £1,833,906.89.”
Mr Carpenter said the bill was “drawn with out enough care” and had “a ‘kitchen sink’ method”, and included “over £120,000 of prices to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement”.
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Wayne and Coleen Rooney outdoors the Excessive Courtroom in 2022. Pic: PA
Engaged on Christmas Day
Earlier this yr, Rooney’s attorneys challenged elements of Vardy’s authorized invoice of round £325,000, of which 20% should be paid by Rooney.
They referred to as Vardy’s prices, which included fee for her trial barrister, Hugh Tomlinson KC, to work on Christmas Day “unreasonable and disproportionate”.
Neither Rooney nor Vardy attended the listening to, which is being overseen by senior prices choose Andrew Gordon-Saker.
It is because of conclude on Wednesday.
