REBEKAH Vardy has been dealt a major blow after Coleen Rooney won the latest round of their Wagatha Christie battle.
The Wag, 42, has been ordered to pick up 90 per cent of Coleen’s bill – including an initial payment of £800,000 – after she sensationally lost the libel case.
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She was dealt a further blow last October when a judge ordered Jamie Vardy’s wife to hand over a further £100,000 within 21 days.
It came after Rebekah also lost a bid to slash former I’m A Celeb star Coleen’s costs, which have been put at £1,833,906.89.
She launched an appeal against the October decision – accusing Coleen’s team of “serious misconduct”.
But the mum-of-two’s bid was dismissed today following a hearing at the High Court.
Mr Justice Cavanagh found the previous judge had “ample material” to reach his decision and that there was “no valid basis for challenging on appeal the judge’s conclusion”.
He added: “The appeal must fail on the basis that the judge was entitled to reach the conclusion that he came to.”
In a separate ruling, Rebekah also largely lost a bid for access to more documents in relation to costs – including details about her claim for VAT.
Senior Costs Judge Mark Whalan said he was “not persuaded” her team should be able to inspect privileged material but ruled they could see a redacted retainer.
Rebekah spoke out after the ruling today and revealed she was “disappointed” but wanted to “move on”.
A spokesperson for Rebekah said: “In terms of the two judgements today (10.04) we are gratified disclosure has been obliged in one ruling whilst being respectfully disappointed that, in the other judgement, our appeal was not successful.
“Now we just wish to move on and look to the future. We will be making no further comment at this time.”
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Rebekah’s barrister Jamie Carpenter KC previously claimed Coleen “very substantially understated” her legal costs by around 40 per cent in her budget.
He also accused her team of understating some of her costs to “attack the other party’s costs”.
Mr Carpenter added: Although the costs judge was critical of Mrs Rooney’s lawyers for their lack of transparency, he held ‘on balance’ and ‘only just’ that there was no misconduct.
“It is respectfully submitted that he was wrong to do so.”
The barrister said a “proportionate sanction” for the alleged misconduct would be to limit the amount of Coleen’s legal costs up to August 2021 to £220,955.07.
But Benjamin Williams KC, for Coleen, said the budget was “properly and correctly completed” and there was “no tenable case” of misconduct.
He added: “Mrs Rooney’s primary position is that, in this, she and her solicitors were adopting the right approach; but even if this is not correct, it was a reasonable approach.”
In October, Senior Costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker found “on balance and, I have to say, only just”, that team Coleen had not committed any wrongdoing.
As a result, he ruled it would therefore not be “appropriate” to reduce the amount of money Rebekah should pay – meaning she could still be landed with a £1.6million bill.
It came after Mr Carpenter accused Coleen’s team of “deliberately deceiving” the court by underestimating costs and time spent working on the case.
He also claimed Coleen’s team had adopted a “kitchen sink approach” when calculating the total.
The lawyer claimed the bill included costs for one of Coleen’s team to stay at the five star Nobu Hotel.
It also included “substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges”, the lawyer said.
He said Coleen’s legal bill – £1,833,906.89 – was more than three times her “agreed costs budget of £540,779.07”.
But Robin Dunne, for Coleen, argued it was “frankly outrageous” to accuse them of dishonesty.
He also said Rebekah had shown “deplorable conduct” in the case and and costs could have been lower if “she conducted this litigation appropriately”.
The lawyer added: “This was a libel claim which Mrs Vardy chose to launch, despite knowing that the Instagram post was true.
“Mrs Vardy refused to engage with Mrs Rooney to try and avoid these proceedings and by her conduct meant that significant additional costs were required to be incurred by Mrs Rooney.
“It sits ill in Mrs Vardy’s mouth to now claim that Mrs Rooney’s costs, a great deal of which were caused directly by her conduct, are unreasonable.”
Rebekah brought the multi-million pound case to court after she was accused of leaking stories to the press.
But Coleen – wife of ex-England ace Wayne – won the epic libel battle in 2022 – bringing an end to the three-year saga.
The row erupted back in October 2019 when Coleen turned detective and accused Rebekah of sharing stories from her personal Instagram account.
Fake stories
In the infamous post, Coleen said she posted a string of false stories via her Instagram account with restricted access to see if they appeared in the media, which they did.
She then said the fake stories had only been viewed by one person, and ended dramatically: “It’s . . . Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
In return, Rebekah declared war and accused Coleen of destroying her reputation as she brought the libel case to court.
But her reputation and finances were left hanging in tatters after she was savaged by Mrs Justice Steyn in her ruling.
The judge said Rebekah “knew of, condoned and was actively engaged” in leaks to the media by her agent Caroline Watts.
She branded the mum-of-five’s evidence as “manifestly inconsistent” but praised Coleen as an “honest and reliable” witness.
Mrs Justice Steyn also found Rebekah deliberately destroyed evidence to cover up her deceit.
A full “line-by-line” assessment of costs is due to take place this year to decide the overall amount of money to be paid.
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