On Tuesday, Mr Gordon-Saker ruled that some of the hourly fees charged by Mrs Rooney’s lawyers had been too high.
Jamie Carpenter, representing Mrs Vardy, said that “we simply don’t know at the moment how much is in this bill that shouldn’t be”, but there were certainly costs that “shouldn’t” be there.
At the end of the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Gordon-Saker said the case would return to court by next spring at the earliest.
He added: “The parties need to get on with this and put it behind them.”
Mrs Rooney’s lawyer, Robin Dunne, requested a further payment towards the bill. He said Mrs Vardy had paid £800,000 so far, as ordered following the 2022 ruling, and requested an additional £150,000 to £200,000.
Mr Gordon-Saker ordered Mrs Vardy to pay a further £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.”
This marks the end of a set of preliminary issues.
The line-by-line assessment of costs will decide the total amount of money to be paid.
It has been five years since Mrs Rooney, the wife of ex-England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, claimed on social media that Mrs Vardy’s account had been the source of three stories in the Sun.
At the trial in July 2022, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled it was likely Mrs Vardy “knew of, condoned and was actively engaged” in the process of leaking stories about Mrs Rooney to the newspaper in collaboration with her agent, Caroline Watt.
