A judgment published on Tuesday said that Mrs. Vardy, must pay 90% of Mrs. Rooney’s fees, with £800,000 paid by 4 p.m. on November 15; Mrs. Rooney’s total legal costs were £1,667,860. Mrs. Vardy sued Mrs. Rooney, 36, for libel, but she was unsuccessful.
On Tuesday, the top court ruled that Vardy must pay 90% of Rooney’s court expenses, a higher percentage than in many other cases. Due in part to Vardy’s willful destruction of trial-relevant WhatsApp communications and other evidence, the judge levied the punishment charge.
Vardy will be required to pay Rooney £800,000 right away, followed by additional payments totaling up to about £1.5 million. Vardy will also be responsible for covering her own legal expenses, which could push the total cost of her debt well over £3 million.
Vardy will have spent millions of pounds for the right to be publicly humiliated, in addition to bringing a libel case of her own volition that wrecked her reputation.
The decision, according to Rooney’s attorney Paul Lunt of Brabners solicitors, reflected the fact that Vardy purposefully tampered with the evidence. Her actions were “beyond the usual and reasonable conduct anticipated of a party in legal proceedings,” as a result.
He claimed that the final bill had increased due to the loss of a phone that may have contained crucial evidence over the side of a boat in the North Sea.
Coleen’s pursuit of such evidence is a key factor in why her legal expenses significantly climbed from the first estimates provided to the court much before the commencement of the trial.
