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”, had “a ‘kitchen sink’ approach”, and included “over £120,000 of costs to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement”.
Her legal bill was said in October 2022 to total £1,667,860, but has now risen to £1,833,907, the court was told.
Mr Carpenter added that the figure was three times over Mrs Rooney’s agreed costs budget of £540,779, which he said was “a remarkable increase”.
He also claimed Mrs Rooney had “deliberately misled” Mrs Vardy and the court with previous estimates of how much money and time she had spent on the case, which he claimed was “serious misconduct”.
That should lead to a reduction in the amount of money Mrs Vardy has to pay, he argued.
