Who are the REAL winners? How £3m Wagatha Christie trial has become one of Britain’s most expensive libel cases – as barristers are paid ‘£800-an-HOUR’
- Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney employed ‘superstar’ barristers to plead case
- David Sherborne and Hugh Tomlinson thought to charge at least £800 an hour
- This time includes preparing their case, not just for the time they spend in court
With estimated costs expected to approach £3m, the Wagatha Christie case will be one of Britain’s most expensive libel cases.
Both Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney employed ‘superstar’ barristers to plead their case, and it is believed both men will walk away with a hefty paycheck of up to £500,000 each.
Coleen’s brief David Sherborne and Rebekah’s QC Hugh Tomlinson are believed to charge at least £800 an hour – and that includes preparing their case, not just for the time they spend in court.
Each senior lawyer had an experienced junior barrister backed up by a team of solicitors.
Coleen’s brief David Sherborne (left) and Rebekah’s QC Hugh Tomlinson are believed to charge at least £800 an hour – and that includes preparing their case, not just for the time they spend in court
Even a year ago at a costs hearing in August 2021, the total pre-trial bill for the case was reckoned to be between £1.5m and £2m.
At that point, documents showed a £300,000 difference in legal budgets by the warring WAGs and Coleen’s lawyers objected to the ‘disproportionate costs’ racked up by Rebekah’s side, describing it as ‘Too many lawyers working far too many hours.’
Rebekah’s side had budgeted £836,735, compared to Coleen’s £537,029, making it 55 per cent higher.
While that amount did include a projected fee for the trial costs, the case also took many unexpected turns after that stage with several hearings taking longer than expected.
When Coleen’s side made an unsuccessful application to have Rebekah’s former agent Caroline Watt to the action in February 2022, Coleen was ordered to pay £65,000 of Caroline Watt’s £70,000 costs just for that hearing and associated work.
Rebekah and Jamie Vardy arrive at the Royal Courts Of Justice during the trial in May
Rebekah’s side had budgeted £836,735, compared to Coleen’s £537,029, making it 55 per cent higher. Coleen is seen out and about in Alderley Edge, Cheshire in July
Coleen’s own estimated legal costs for the two-day hearing were £163,926, while Rebekah’s were between £100,000 and £143,000.
Whatever the final bill, it won’t match the stratospheric costs incurred in Britain’s longest defamation case, the David and Goliath McLibel trial, which cost McDonalds an estimated £10m (at 1997 prices).
The multinational sued two penniless London Greenpeace supporters for a leaflet they were distributing and involved no fewer than 313 days of hearings at the High Court over 2½ years.
Although McDonalds won the case, it was regarded as a pyrrhic victory as the judgement did find some of the points in the campaigners’ literature proven, and the lawsuit had merely served to publicise the criticisms.
Cashing in: Vardy vs Rooney estimated costs
VARDY ROONEY TOTAL
Pre-trial costs – £1.1m £900,000 £2m
Trial costs – £500,000 £500,000 £1m
Grand total – £1.6m £1.4m £3m
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