Court is told of Vardy’s £900,000 budget for her case against Rooney
THE JUDGE in Rebekah Vardy’s libel battle with Coleen Rooney said both women’s legal budgets were “extraordinarily large” and asked them to try to settle the case.
At a brief preliminary hearing in the High Court, Mrs Rooney’s barrister John Samson said Mrs Vardy’s £900,000 budget for the case is “grotesque”.
Mrs Vardy’s barrister Sara Mansoori said her client’s £897,000 budget “reflects the complexity, scope and scale of the legal and factual issues”.
Judge Roger Eastman gave the parties until June to file revised cost budgets.
Mrs Rooney, 34, wife of former England star Wayne Rooney, accused Mrs Vardy, 39, of leaking “false stories” about her private life in 2019 from her personal Instagram account to The Sun newspaper, after carrying out a months-long “sting operation”, which saw her dubbed “Wagatha Christie”. Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for damages for libel.
Mr Samson asked the court to “reject the claimant’s cost budget and ask them to review it because, in the words of my lay client, it is grotesque”. Mr Samson said the sums involved were “huge”, telling the court that “the claimant’s budget to date, including incurred costs, is double that of the defendant”.
Ms Mansoori said Mrs Vardy’s overall budget was “£897,000, the estimated costs of which are £465,842. This compares to Mrs Rooney’s estimated costs in her cost budget of £402,312.”
Ms Mansoori added: “Mrs Vardy’s cost budget reflects the very serious nature of the highly damaging defamatory allegation made against her – which continues to be published by Mrs Rooney.
“It has caused enormous distress to Mrs Vardy and led to her being targeted by hostile and abusive online messages, as well as causing extreme upset and anxiety to members of her family.
An attempt at mediation took place earlier this year. The case continues.