TheWagatha Christietrial betweenColeen RooneyandRebekah Vardyis coming to an end.
The case centres around Rebekah’s Instagram account being accused by Coleen of leaking fake stories about her in October 2019 in a now famous Instagram post dubbed Wagatha Christie.
Rebekah, 40,denies the allegationsand is suing 36 year old Coleen for libel.
Thepair’s lawyers made their closing statementsat Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday 19 May and after much waiting the decision is set to be revealed this afternoon. Ahead of the verdict, we take a look at the legal issues in the libel battle.
What is a libel?
A libel is a published statement which is damaging to a person’s reputation.
In the Wagatha Christie case, Rebekah says that she has suffered “very serious harm to her reputation” as a result of Coleen’s 2019 Instagram post which alleged her account was responsible for leaking information about her to The Sun newspaper and she is seeking “substantial damages”, or compensation.
Coleen is defending the claim on the basis it was true and in the public interest for her to publish it.
What has to be proved?
In a libel case, it is up to the defendant – Coleen in this case – to prove their defence to the claim.
In this case, she relies on a defence of truth – that what she posted when she identified Rebekah as the alleged leaker was “substantially true”.
Coleen also argues that she reasonably believed it was in the public interest to expose Rebekah as the alleged leaker of the posts.
As this is a civil case, the standard of proof is “on the balance of probabilities”, or “more likely than not”.
What was the meaning of the post by Coleen?
At an earlier stage of the proceedings in late 2020, ajudge concluded that the “natural and ordinary meaning” of Coleen’s post , to the “ordinary reasonable reader” was that: “Over a period of years Mrs Vardy had regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Ms Rooney’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun newspaper of Ms Rooney’s private posts and stories, thereby making public without Ms Rooney’s permission a great deal of information about Ms Rooney, her friends and family which she did not want made public.”
For Coleen to successfully defend the claim she made, she must prove that meaning was “substantially true”.
How much in damages can Rebekah expect to receive if she wins?
There is an upper limit of damages in libel actions of about £300,000, so if she wins, that would be themaximum amount Rebekah could receive.
The amount of damages awarded depends on a number of factors, including the level of harm caused to a person’s reputation and how many people read the published libel, but is usually dwarfed by legal costs.
Matthew Dando, partner at law firm Wiggin LLP, said: “Libel damages are virtually never as high as the costs of the process.
“If Mrs Vardy does win damages they will be a fraction of her total legal spend which will almost certainly exceed £1 million.”
What are the estimated legal costs of the case?
At a hearing in March last year, it was revealed that Rebekah had a costs budget for the case of nearly £900,000, while Coleen’s costs were estimated to be about £400,000.
However, it is believed the case has now exceeded those budgets and the combined legal costs – including for the trial over seven days – will probably be at least £2 million in total.
Mr Dando said Rebekah “runs the real risk” the legal action will leave her out of pocket.
Who will have to pay?
Generally, whoever loses the case pays the vast majority of the other party’s legal costs.
If Rebekah wins and gets either the same level of damages she is seeking, or a higher amount, then Coleen will have to pay almost all of her legal costs, as well as her own.
However, if there has been an attempt to reach a financial settlement at an earlier stage in proceedings, and an offer has been made in secret, this position changes.
If a defendant has offered a sum to settle a claim, and the claimant rejects it and then goes on to win the case, but is awarded a smaller sum than the earlier offer, the claimant will have to pay the defendant’s legal costs from the date the offer was made.
In this case, if Rebekah wins, but is awarded only a small amount of damages, she may have to pay a portion of Coleen’s costs, as Coleen said she previously made efforts to resolve the case “amicably” without the need for a trial in 2020.
Mark Stephens, media specialist at law firm Howard Kennedy, said: “It is a possibility that the judge says effectively ‘a plague on both your houses’ – I’m giving you notional damages or some small amount of damages.”
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