Rebekah Vardy bid to access more documents is ‘fishing expedition’, court hears

A bid by Rebekah Vardy to access more documents is a “fishing expedition” and an “attempt to derail” the latest stage of her Wagatha Christie libel case against Coleen Rooney, the High Court has heard.

Lawyers for Mrs Vardy – the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy – are asking the court in London to order Mrs Rooney’s team to hand over “privileged” documents, and details about her claim for VAT.

Mrs Vardy was ordered to pay 90% of Mrs Rooney’s costs – more than £1.8 million – after she lost the legal action in 2022.

Her lawyers are disputing the sum, and at a hearing on Tuesday applied for further information about retainers between the wife of former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and her solicitors.

In written submissions, Robin Dunne, for Mrs Rooney, said that “despite the hyperbolic nature of the claimant’s argument, there is no genuine issue at all”.

He added: “The defendant is forced to conclude that this is yet another attempt by the claimant to conduct this assessment in a wholly disproportionate manner.”

Mr Dunne also said: “The court is invited to extinguish this fishing expedition. There is no genuine issue and the VAT point has been clarified.

“The claimant’s application is misconceived, seeking orders which the court has no jurisdiction to make, but moreover is an attempt to derail this assessment.

“This will lead to yet more costs and delay, which is in neither parties’ interest.”

Jamie Carpenter KC, for Mrs Vardy, told the court that the situation over more than £300,000 in VAT is “murky, to say the least”, and that further disclosure is needed to know the VAT is properly claimed.

In his written submissions, he said: “What has emerged gives rise to a number of further questions, which needed to be answered.”

Mr Carpenter added: “It is submitted that it is not an answer simply to say that all of the VAT has been repaid, though the evidence does not presently support that in any event, because it leaves open the question of whether it was properly reclaimed in the first place.”

He also said that these issues need to be cleared up now, adding: “Further, the amount of VAT which is in issue is a clear obstacle to settlement and the avoidance of a further hearing.”

In a three-day hearing last October, lawyers for Mrs Vardy argued that the sum she is required to pay should be reduced due to what they said was “serious misconduct” by Mrs Rooney’s legal team, who allegedly “deliberately understated” her costs.

But the judge found that Mrs Rooney’s legal team had not committed wrongdoing.

Senior Costs Judge Mark Whalan said he will give judgment at a later date.