Wagatha Christie: Legal costs under the magnifying glass
14 May 2025
The 2022 High Court defamation case
In 2022, Rebekah Vardy lost her high-profile defamation case against Coleen Rooney and was ordered to pay 90% of Ms Rooney’s legal costs, totalling about £1.8m.
This amount was 3 times higher than the costs figure included in Ms Rooney’s agreed cost budget, which totalled £540,779.
The 2024 preliminary hearing
Following the High Court decision, Ms Vardy disputed the amount of legal costs she was ordered to pay Ms Rooney. She argued that Ms Rooney had no entitlement to a substantial amount of the costs and alleged that Ms Rooney’s lawyers committed misconduct by “deliberately” understating her legal bill. Ms Vardy described Ms Rooney’s costs as being “extraordinary” as they included costs spent by Ms Rooney’s lawyer in respect of a stay at a luxury Nobu hotel, which included dinner, drinks and a mini-bar bill.
In October 2024, at a preliminary hearing, senior costs judge, Andrew Gordon-Saker, dismissed a number of Ms Vardy’s claims and ruled that Ms Rooney’s lawyers had not committed misconduct. The judge said that whilst it was a “failure to be transparent”, it was not “sufficiently unreasonable or improper” to constitute misconduct. However, the judge found that some of the hourly fees charged by Ms Rooney’s lawyers were too high.
Ms Vardy had, at this stage, paid to Rooney £800,000. Ms Rooney’s lawyer, Robin Dunne, requested a further payment towards the bill of £150,000 to £200,000. Judge Gordon-Saker ordered Ms Vardy to pay an additional amount of not more than £100,000.
The 2025 hearing
The matter returned to the High Court this year.
In what marks the end of the long-lasting legal battle, the Court was told that Ms Vardy would agree to pay the amount of £1,190,000 in settlement of Ms Rooney’s legal bill.
On top of the £1.19 million, costs judge Mark Whalan concluded that it was “reasonable and proportionate” for Ms Vardy to pay Ms Rooney an additional £212,266 in assessment costs. In total, the Court held that Ms Vardy would pay at least £1.4 million to Ms Rooney.
Main take-aways
The case demonstrates that even when a cost award is made, the case may not end there. A party may put its opponent’s costs under a magnifying glass and heavily scrutinise what they are trying to recover. To mitigate these issues, lawyers should manage costs from the outset and ensure that they are monitored throughout.
If you have a commercial business and find yourself in a legal dispute, please contact Redkite’s Commercial Litigation team who will be happy assist you.
This article was written by Redkite Solicitors, Jessica Davies. To find out more about Jessica and the support that she can provide to you, visit her website profile here: https://www.redkitesolicitors.co.uk/team/jessica-davies/
The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.