Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Wags at war
Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy set for court showdown
COLEEN Rooney and Rebekah Vardy will have a court showdown within weeks in their “Wagatha Christie” libel battle, a judge has ordered.
Mr Justice Nicklin said a preliminary trial will decide the “natural and ordinary” meaning of Coleen’s social media posts when she appeared to accuse Rebekah of leaking stories about her.
He made the order after Rebekah’s lawyers filed papers at the High Court asking Coleen, 34, for the meaning of the words used to be determined.
Rebekah, 38, is seeking substantial damages, claiming the posts last October resulted in her suffering “severe and extreme hostility and abuse”. Coleen made the claims on her Instagram account, which has 885,000 followers, and Twitter, which has 1.2 million.
The mum of four said she suspected a pal had been leaking stories about her.
She claimed to have posted a string of false stories to see if they would be published in newspapers and they were.
Her post said the bogus stories were only seen by one follower, concluding: “It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
In her court claim, Rebekah’s lawyers say the post meant she had “consistently and repeatedly” betrayed Coleen’s trust over several years by leaking her “private and personal” Instagram posts. Mr Justice Nicklin has given Coleen until
October 2 to serve a “statement of case”. In the court order, dated September 17, he states: “It is ordered by consent that there be a trial of the preliminary issue of the natural and ordinary meaning of the words complained of.”
He said the half-day trial would be heard by a specialist media and communication judge after November 15.
Coleen, wife of football star Wayne, has not yet filed a defence and the judge said she does not have to do so until 28 days after the preliminary hearing.
Justice Nicklin also warned both sides about their legal costs. He said: “This case is particularly straightforward and I shall not expect costs above £25,000
(excluding VAT) for each party. I encourage the parties to reach agreement about costs budgeting.”
He said any side that exceeds the expected costs will need to provide the court with “cogent reasons” for this, adding that the hearing could take place before November 15 if they can agree costs budgets of less than £25,000 each.
Model Rebekah, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, has denied going to the press about her former pal and said various people have had access to her Instagram account over the years.
If the sides do not settle out of court, the case is likely to go to a full trial next year. A spokesman for Coleen said: “We will not be making any public comments at this time.”