Coleen Rooney barrister recounts what Wagatha Christie case was like to act in
The highest-profile costs dispute in recent memory concluded this week with a settlement on the costs of the costs assessment in the ‘Wagatha Christie’ case.
Costs Judge Whalan was quoted by the Law Society Gazette as telling the parties and lawyers: “I do mean it when I say I hope this is the end of a long and unhappy road and the next time we meet will be in a different case in different circumstances.”
The costs barrister who acted for Coleen Rooney also explained to Costs Lawyer what it was like being in a case that attracted front-page headlines, saying it highlighted the work undertaken by costs specialists.
Rebekah Vardy agreed to pay £1.19m of Mr Rooney’s £1.8m costs bill, and after the judge made various reductions to the time sought on the costs of the assessment, the parties settled for £212,000, against the claimed £315,000.
Writing on LinkedIn, Aoife Murphy, the legal director at North-West firm Brabners who acted for Mrs Rooney, said the costs dispute had taken “a very long” two years and seven months.
“Unfortunately the cost proceedings took almost the same road as the main libel action, hard fought and not one stone left unturned, whether reasonable or not.
“It has been frustrating to see so many inaccurate reports on the costs throughout the matter but equally positive for the world of legal costs to get mentioned in the worldwide press and national TV. We had some really interesting and technical cost arguments throughout the matter.
“Much like the main action we sought to settle the matter without the need for costly assessment proceedings with an early JSM and, indeed throughout the matter.
“I am pleased however that we have been successful within the DA proceedings, successfully recovered detailed assessment costs and been successful in the appeal court on an issue surrounding cost budgeting while successfully defeating a misconduct argument in addition to recovering costs.”
She praised Robin Dunne of Gatehouse Chambers, who acted throughout the detailed assessment proceedings, for obtaining “a fantastic result”. Ben Williams KC also acted in last month’s High Court appeal.
Ms Murphy concluded: “The important issue here is that our client can finally move on from this case which started nearly 6 years ago.
“On a personal note I am looking forward to some ‘normal’ cost cases for a while, continuing to improve and grow our cost team at Brabners and of course seeing my children more before and after school who have probably noticed I’ve been absent more than usual the last few months.”
In an echo of the original tweet from Mrs Rooney that started the whole litigation, Ms Murphy ended her post with: “It’s …… over.”
Mr Dunne told the ACL: “No one gets into costs for the glamour or fame, so having detailed assessment proceedings, where each hearing was attended by huge numbers of press and where anything said would appear in real time on the media sites – and even on the TV news – was unique and took some getting used to.”
At every turn, the case generated significant press coverage and multiple front-page headlines and Mr Dunne said one of his favourites was “Wagather Thrifty”, after he told the court that his instructing solicitor had only spent £7 on two bottles of water rather than the “huge” mini bar bill that had been alleged in the press.
“It added significant pressure, because the press would quote from each skeleton argument and anything said in court would be out in the world for all to read,” he went on. “It was also really important from a client-care perspective, because a lot of contentious points were taken by Vardy (all of which failed), which had the potential to damage Coleen’s reputation.
“Having the mainstream press report technical arguments about budgets, misconduct, hourly rates etc, was great at highlighting the work undertaken by costs specialists and how important that work is; something that usually flies under the radar.
“It shows how costs are never an afterthought, and that the costs proceedings can be as fraught and difficult as the main action – something Costs Lawyers know all too well.
“Now it’s finally settled after two years, I’m just really pleased that Coleen can put this behind her, having been vindicated, and grateful to Aoife Murphy and Paul Lunt from Brabners for instructing me.”