Coleen Rooney’s lawyers committed no wrongdoing, a judge has ruled, after the lawyers were accused of “knowingly misleading” Rebekah Vardy by allegedly deliberately understating her “extraordinary” legal fees during her Wagatha Christie libel battle.

Vardy, the wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy, lost the high-profile case in July 2022 after suing Rooney for defamation.

In 2019, Rooney, the wife of former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, had accused Vardy of leaking her private information to the press on social media, which Ms Justice Steyn found to be “substantially true”. In October 2022, the judge ordered Vardy to pay 90% of Rooney’s legal costs.

The couple’s lawyers returned to a London court this week over a dispute over how much should be paid.

Jamie Carpenter KC, for Vardy, claimed in written submissions that Rooney and her legal team had “deliberately understated” some of her costs so that she could “use the apparent difference in costs incurred as a result to offset the costs of others.” attacking the party,” which he alleged was serious misconduct. He argued that this justified a reduction in the amount Vardy should be paid.

Robin Dunne argued on behalf of Rooney that there had been no wrongdoing and it was “illogical to say we misled anyone”.

In a ruling on Tuesday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker found “on the whole, and I just have to say” that Rooney’s legal team had committed no wrongdoing and therefore it was “not an appropriate case” to reduce the amount of money that Vardy should pay.

He said that while there was a “lack of transparency,” it was not “sufficiently inadequate or inappropriate” to constitute misconduct.

In written submissions, Vardy’s lawyers had questioned the “sheer size” of some of Rooney’s legal fees. Carpenter said Rooney’s total legal costs claimed – £1,833,906.89 – were more than three times her “agreed costs budget of £540,779.07” and were “disproportionate”.

He said the bill included a lawyer’s stay “at the Nobu Hotel, which incurs significant dinner and drink charges as well as minibar charges.”

On Tuesday, Dunne said the comment was “undoubtedly made in an attempt to argue that the defendant has been wasteful in its spending on this litigation” and that the representation was “misleading and factually inaccurate.”

He said: “Yesterday (Monday) morning the Sun had a front page headline about minibar charges. It was also widely reported around the world on Twitter or the defendant spent an excessive amount of money and what she says is completely unreasonable.

“There are some factual inaccuracies. It is both misleading and factually inaccurate and potentially defamatory and appropriate action will be taken.”

Dunne said one of Rooney’s lawyers only stayed at the hotel because of a problem with his original booking elsewhere.

He said: “(The lawyer) did not book the Nobu Hotel. He booked a modest hotel, but the first night there was no working Wi-Fi or shower. He was offered by the defendant’s agent to stay at Nobu, which has a preferential rate.”

He said the food and minibar bill came to £225, but said the minibar bill came to “£7 and two bottles of water”.

Dunne went on to say that the lawyer paid £295 a night to stay at the hotel, even though standard rates were more than £600 a night.

Carpenter responded: “While we say that the defendant’s costs are extravagant, the line-related questions have a different purpose.”

The hearing deals with fundamental questions before a line-by-line cost determination, which is to take place at a later date.

Dunne said in his written submissions that Vardy had shown “deplorable behavior” throughout the case, adding: “It is not in Vardy’s mouth to now claim that Rooney’s costs, a large part of which are directly due to her conduct caused are inappropriate.”

On Monday he told the court that Vardy’s argument “smacks of desperation by any stretch of the imagination” and that the outcome of the court battle had been “completely devastating for her”.

He said: “It is probably the most under-advised lawsuit since Oscar Wilde.”

The hearing, which neither Rooney nor Vardy attended on Tuesday, is expected to conclude on Wednesday.