The Wagatha Christie libel case is now over, with Rebekah Vardy losing her lawsuit against fellow football WAG (short for wives and girlfriends) Coleen Rooney in a high court judgement that questioned Vardy’s credibility as a witness. Although the case is now over, the result has several lessons for future litigants about the inherent risks and costs of libel litigation in today’s social media environment.
The case centred on Rooney’s viral social media post, accusing Vardy of leaking stories about her to the press. Rooney came to this conclusion after conducting social media detective work to single out Vardy as the culprit – hence the nickname “Wagatha Christie”. Vardy then sued Rooney for libel.
In a preliminary hearing, a judge ruled that Rooney’s post essentially meant that Vardy “regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower” of Rooney’s personal account by secretly informing the Sun of private stories. The issue at the heart of the final trial was whether this meaning was “substantially true”. This effectively meant that Rooney needed to convince the judge that there was a more than 50% chance that her allegation was true in substance and fact. This is a less onerous standard compared to criminal cases, which require proof beyond reasonable doubt.
