Rebekah Vardy first opened the case in 2022 against the Liverpool-born star
Coleen Rooney has been “entirely successful” in the high-profile Wagatha Christie libel battle between herself and Rebekah Vardy.
In 2022, Rebekah was unsuccessful as she put forward a case to sue Coleen for libel after she accused Rebekah of leaking private information about her to the press in 2019.
There was still some dispute in the legal costs that Rebekah should pay ongoing until recently.
During a hearing that took place in October last year, a specialist costs judge ruled Coleen’s lawyers did not commit misconduct after Rebekah’s legal team accused them of “deliberately” understating some of her costs.
Earlier this month, Mr Justice Cavanagh dismissed an appeal by Rebekah against the decision, but she then disputed how much she should pay of Coleen’s appeal costs.
Jamie Carpenter KC, for Rebekah, told the court in written submissions that while Coleen successfully opposed the appeal, the court had not accepted two submissions made on her behalf, and Rebekah had incurred additional costs to address these arguments.
Meanwhile, Coleen’s lawyers said she should receive her full costs of opposing the appeal, which they claim totalled £85,468.50.
Coleen previously spoke about the ordeal, as she shared: “Do you know what, it’s one of the things that I don’t really think about now,
“It’s in the past, even though it’s still in court.
“I did what I did and got the outcome that I deserved. So, I don’t really think about it.”
And, in a judgment on Tuesday 29th April, Mr Justice Cavanagh said: “Mr Carpenter KC recognised that the reduction in costs to reflect the lack of success of these arguments should only be ‘modest’, and submitted that a reduction of 10% in Ms Rooney’s recoverable costs would reflect the overall justice of the situation.
“I do not accept this submission.”
He continued: “Whilst there can be circumstances in which it is appropriate to disallow some of a successful party’s costs because much of the hearing was taken up with a discrete point or points on which the party had been unsuccessful, this is not such a case.
“The reality is that Ms Rooney was entirely successful at the appeal hearing.”
A separate detailed assessment of the costs owed from the libel battle is due to begin on May 6 before Costs Judge Mark Whalan, which is expected to last over the course of 10 days where the total amount will be revealed.