Jamie Carpenter KC, representing Mrs Vardy, said Mrs Rooney’s total included costs for a lawyer staying “at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges”.
In written submissions for Monday’s hearing, he said: “The costs dispute has been rendered particularly intractable by the sheer magnitude of the costs claimed by Mrs Rooney, in absolute terms and when compared to her agreed costs budget, the number of errors in the bill and the extraordinary nature of some of the costs claimed.”
Mr Carpenter added that 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”.
However, Robin Dunne, representing Mrs Rooney, said Mrs Vardy had chosen to launch the libel action “despite knowing that the Instagram post was true”, and that she had had shown “deplorable conduct” in the case.
He wrote: “Mrs Vardy refused to engage with Mrs Rooney to try and avoid these proceedings and by her conduct meant that significant additional costs were required to be incurred by Mrs Rooney.”
He continued: “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.”
Neither Mrs Rooney nor Mrs Vardy attended the hearing before Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker on Monday. It will conclude on Wednesday.
