Coleen Rooney cut a glum figure as she stepped out on Thursday despite securing another court victory over rival Rebekah Vardy.
Rebekah, 42, has been ordered to pay Coleen another £100,000 in the latest twist in their ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel battle – with a total settlement to be decided next year.
However, the WAG, 38, failed to raise a smile as she braced the cool weather while out and about in the morning.
Coleen cut a casual figure as she slipped into navy gym wear, donning a zip-up sweater which she teamed with coordinating workout leggings and trainers.
The mother-of-four, who was no doubt heading back from the gym, carried a water bottle in her hand as well as her keys and mobile phone.
Coleen Rooney cut a glum figure as she stepped out on Thursday despite securing another court victory over rival Rebekah Vardy
the WAG, 38, failed to raise a smile as she braced the cool weather while out and about in the morning.
Rebekah [pictured], 42, has been ordered to pay Coleen another £100,000 in the latest twist in their ‘ Wagatha Christie ‘ libel battle – with a total settlement to be decided next year
Coleen’s outing comes after barristers for the two ladies had been back in court in a dispute over legal costs after Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy’s wife Rebekah lost her High Court claim against Coleen, who is married to ex-England captain Wayne Rooney, in 2022.
It followed Coleen accusing her fellow WAG of leaking private information about her to the Press, with today marking five years since the viral post at the centre of the row.
Rebekah was later instructed to pay 90 per cent of 38-year-old Coleen’s fees, with an initial payment of £800,000, but has been challenging the claimed £1.8million costs.
At the end of the latest hearing, which began on Monday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker has now told Rebekah to pay an extra £100,000 within 21 days.
He said: ‘I think there is some scope for a further payment on account so the defendant (Mrs Rooney) is not kept out of her costs, and I think that should be no more than £100,000.’
The hearing, which neither woman attended, dealt with several preliminary issues before a full ‘line-by-line’ assessment of costs takes place at a later date, which will decide the overall amount of money to be paid.
Judge Gordon-Saker said this could take place in early 2025, but added: ‘The parties need to get on with this and put it behind them.’
He said: ‘Realistically, it (the line-by-line assessment) is probably going to be next year, hopefully early next year.’
Coleen cut a casual figure as she slipped into navy gym wear, donning a zip-up sweater which she teamed with coordinating workout leggings and trainers
The mother-of-four, who was no doubt heading back from the gym, carried a water bottle in her hand as well as her keys and mobile phone
Despite her victory in court, Coleen looked downcast as she stepped out on Thursday
In 2019, Coleen publicly claimed Mrs Vardy’s account was the source behind three stories in the Sun newspaper featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram profile.
These covered her travelling to Mexico for a ‘gender selection’ procedure, plans to return to TV and the basement flooding at her home.
After the high-profile trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in Coleen’s favour in July 2022, finding the post was ‘substantially true’.
The judge said that it was ‘likely’ that Rebekah’s agent Caroline Watt had passed information to the newspaper. and that the Leicester star’s wife ‘knew of and condoned this behaviour’.
At the latest hearing, Rebekah’s representative Jamie Carpenter KC said in written submissions that Coleen’s claimed legal bill ran to £1,833,906.89, which was more than three times her ‘agreed costs budget of £540,779.07’.
At the end of the latest hearing, which began on Monday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker has now told Rebekah (pictured in May 2022) to pay an extra £100,000 within 21 days
Rebekah, married to Wayne’s former Three Lions team-mate Jamie Vardy [both pictured in 2022] , lost a legal action in July 2022, having sued Coleen over claims about leaking stories
Coleen accused Rebekah in 2019 of sharing her private information from social media to the Press – an allegation which judge Mrs Justice Steyn later ruled was ‘substantially true’ (pictured in 2022)
He said the bill was ‘drawn without sufficient care’ and had ‘a ‘kitchen sink’ approach’, and included ‘over £120,000 of costs to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement’.
But Robin Dunne, for Coleen, said in his written submissions that Mrs Vardy had shown ‘deplorable conduct’ in the case and that costs could have been lower if ‘she conducted this litigation appropriately’.
He added: ‘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 has been demanding a 50 per cent cut in the £1.8million settlement, as it was alleged that Coleen was charging for a lawyer’s stay at a five-star Nobu Hotel.
After the high-profile trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in Coleen’s (pictured in May 2022) favour in July 2022, finding the post was ‘substantially true’
Rebekah pictured here at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium in May 2022, was later ordered to pay 90 per cent of 38-year-old Coleen’s fees, with an initial payment of £800,000
Rebekah’s lawyers argued that the opposing legal team’s estimate of their costs for expenses including a luxury hotel and a hotly disputed minibar tab was deliberately misleading and that this warranted a reduction in the amount she had to pay (The Nobu Hotel pictured)
Rebekah’s lawyers argued that the opposing legal team’s estimate of their costs for expenses including a luxury hotel and a hotly disputed minibar tab was deliberately misleading and that this warranted a reduction in the amount she had to pay.
But this week saw Coleen score another win over her rival, as as a judge ruled the bill had been legitimately incurred.
Coleen’s barrister Mr Dunne insisted, ‘There has been no misconduct’, and that it was ‘illogical to say that we misled anyone’.
Her legal team denied claims their spending on the case was ‘extravagant’, and attacked reports surrounding one of her lawyers staying at the Nobu Hotel, an A-list celebrity favourite.
They told the High Court that the hotel stay had been falsely painted as a decadent ‘scene from Caligula’, but was secured for around the price of a room at a Premier Inn.