Rebekah Vardy has agreed to pay almost £1.2 million of Coleen Rooney’s legal costs following a libel case that concluded in 2022. Rooney accused Vardy of leaking her personal information to the media. This accusation fueled an ugly, very public courtroom fight.
In the aftermath of the trial, Coleen Rooney’s total legal bill reached over £1.8 million after successfully defending against Vardy’s claims in the High Court. As part of the court’s ruling, Vardy was ordered to cover 90% of Rooney’s costs, including an initial payment of £800,000.
Juliet Wells, Vardy’s barrister, confirmed that the settlement had been reached, stating that Rooney’s total legal bill had now been settled at almost £1.2 million. In addition to these damages, Rooney has filed for extra “assessment costs” over £300,000.
Wells vehemently opposed Rooney’s rescission of assessment costs. He proposed that the costs be limited to a maximum of £100,000, describing the original demand as “grossly disproportionate.” Then in August 2024, Vardy did something unprecedented. He suggested a partial settlement offer of £1.1 million to pay for Rooney’s legal bill, exclusive of interest and assessment costs. However, Rooney rejected this offer outright.
Robin Dunne, representing Rooney, accused Vardy of “drip feeding” settlement offers throughout the process and highlighted that the high-profile nature of the case was exacerbated by “lurid headlines arising from briefings from Mrs Vardy’s camp” during the trial.
“There will rarely be a case where it can be said with greater force that Mrs Vardy is the author of her own misfortune.” – Robin Dunne for Mrs Rooney
The resulting court case drew national media attention. This came after Coleen Rooney’s dramatic social media revelation in 2019, where she accused fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy of selling stories about her to various tabloid press. The resulting litigation only underscored each party’s acrimonious history and resulted in significant fiscal consequences.
Vardy’s legal team claimed that the bill could have been resolved sooner if Rooney had engaged more constructively throughout the proceedings. They argued that certain costs included in Rooney’s initial £1.8 million invoice should not have been incurred. As part of this, the coalition paid for messaging and outreach to journalists.
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