Latest news with #legalcosts

Jeremy Vine reveals HUGE sum Joey Barton has now paid towards his legal costs after libel battle

The Sun

7 hours ago

Entertainment
The Sun

Jeremy Vine reveals HUGE sum Joey Barton has now paid towards his legal costs after libel battle

JEREMY Vine has revealed the huge sum former footballer Joey Barton has now paid for his legal costs after their libel battle. The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 60, had sued for libel and harassment over posts on X falsely calling him a 'big bike nonce ' and a 'paedo defender'. 2 2 He said the ex-Man City player, 42, has now paid over £500,000 for the false claims, which the Eggheads host said was a 'relief just to be vindicated'. In a statement posted on X, he said: 'Mr Barton has now paid out more than half a million pounds in my case alone.' Vine insisted, however, that he would have been fine if the former footballer had sent him £10,000 in damages in the first place. He added: 'I had no wish to be in that position and I am grateful to my lawyers in ensuring we got the final payments in today... I told Mr Barton that if he paid £10,000 total and deleted the tweets I'd forget the whole thing. It was him, not me, who decided to take the long road.' In October 2024, Barton issued public apologies and paid £110,000 in damages to the Channel 5 broadcaster after being sued for defamation and harassment. But Vine argued more should be paid to cover his legal fees. Barton's bill, according to Vine, breaks down as follows: '110k — the libel. 160k — my costs. 3.6k — interest on costs. 43k — my costs recovery action. 200k — his costs. MINIMUM £516,600.' Vine said Barton had initially agreed in court to pay for his legal fees but later disputed the amount. The broadcaster's legal team then found Barton owned his house outright and said if he had not paid the full amount, he would have had the right to evict him, become his landlord or force the sale of the house. A court hearing in London earlier this month, heard Barton had agreed to pay £160,000 of Vine's costs. Jeremy Vine forced to apologise as 'vile misogynistic' caller insults Ann Widdicombe live on air But Vine wanted a further £60,000 for costs over negotiating that sum. Suzanner Holmes, for Barton, said that the request was 'excessive' and should be reduced. But Vine's representative Kevin Latham said Barton had 'repeatedly failed to engage in proper negotiation'. The court ruled Barton should pay £43,172.20 to add to the £160,000. Neither Barton nor Vine attended the hearing in London. The feud has drawn widespread response online with many suggesting the broadcaster had gone too far with the case. One said: 'Half a million in fees over that? Seriously?' While another wrote: 'Barton's a d***, but Christ we need to change the law to stop this nonsense.'

Labour settles claims brought by 20 people over leaked antisemitism dossier

The Guardian

13 hours ago

Politics
The Guardian

Labour settles claims brought by 20 people over leaked antisemitism dossier

Labour has settled claims brought by 20 people, mainly former staffers, who featured in a leaked internal document about antisemitism within the party, with the costs estimated to be close to £2m. The settlements include a payout to Labour's former elections chief Patrick Heneghan, who was falsely accused in the dossier of having tried to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn's chances of winning the 2017 election. It is understood the payouts will total just under £1m, but with Labour paying both sides' legal fees the cost to the party will be near £2m. This puts the total legal costs for Labour connected to the dossier to more than £4m, with court documents released last year showing the party spent £2.4m on its own eventually abandoned lawsuit pursuing five separate staffers it accused of being behind the leak. The 800-page document was produced under Corbyn's leadership. It was billed as being part of a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the rights watchdog's inquiry into antisemitism within Labour, but was never submitted. It was instead anonymously leaked and included hundreds of private WhatsApp messages from named staff detailing hostility towards Corbyn and his allies. The report said factional hostility contributed to an ineffective handling of antisemitism complaints, and set out claims of anti-black racism, Islamophobia, sexism and bullying. The 20 people whose cases have been settled took action over alleged defamation or the unauthorised use of personal data, or both. Six opted to be named, including Heneghan, who had previously labelled the idea he sabotaged the 2017 election a 'stab-in-the-back' conspiracy theory. A statement by the named claimants' legal team, read to the court, said this claim was among a series of false allegations against Heneghan. Also named was Labour's former head of governance John Stolliday, who took action over the leak of private messages and what the statement called 'false and damaging' allegations that he tried to obstruct action on antisemitism in order to undermine Corbyn. A staffer in the governance unit, Fraser Welsh, took action over similar claims. Another named party was Joe Goldberg, then a Labour councillor in Haringey, north London. The statement to the court said the leaked document made 'wholly untrue' claims that Goldberg was Islamophobic and had tried to smear another party member with an unfounded allegation of antisemitism. Another payout went to Ben Santhouse, who had made a confidential complaint to the party about alleged antisemitism and was then named in the leaked report as 'a vexatious complainant who made disproportionate and unfounded allegations of antisemitism against individuals', claims the document read to the court said were defamatory. According to the claimants, as well as not being told about the fact their private messages and emails were being leaked, the dossier in some cases used the messages to create misleading narratives. In the wake of the furore over the leaked dossier, Labour under Keir Starmer's leadership commissioned a report by the senior lawyer Martin Forde QC. Published in 2022, it concluded that destructive infighting within the party under Corbyn's tenure meant antisemitism was often used as a 'factional weapon' by his critics, and then denied by his supporters. It also said it was 'highly unlikely' that staff sought to sabotage the 2017 election, and that the leaked report was itself a factional document with an agenda to advance. The Forde report did not, however, agree with claims that derogatory messages in the leaked dossier were 'cherrypicked and selectively edited'. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion In June last year, Labour withdrew legal action against five former staff members, including Corbyn's former chief of staff Karie Murphy and his former director of communications Seumas Milne, who were accused of leaking the report. All of the five, also comprising Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball, had vehemently denied being responsible. The Forde report said it had been unable to determine who leaked the document. Separate to the dossier, in 2020 the party apologised to seven former employees and a BBC journalist after admitting it had defamed them in the aftermath of a Panorama investigation into its handling of antisemitism. The settlement to the ex-staff and the reporter John Ware was believed to have cost Labour about £600,000. It retracted claims by the party that the whistleblowers were motivated by opposition to Corbyn and that Ware had acted misleadingly. A Labour spokesperson said: 'The party welcomes the resolution of this matter.' It is understood the latest claims were settled before last year's general election, although the details have only been set out now. The party did not comment on the payouts or costs.

Alphabet CFO reports spike in operating costs after $1.4B Texas settlement

Yahoo

5 days ago

Business
Yahoo

Alphabet CFO reports spike in operating costs after $1.4B Texas settlement

This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Alphabet's total operating expenses increased 20% to $26.1 billion during the second quarter, driven largely by legal costs, CFO Anat Ashkenazi said Wednesday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in May that he secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Alphabet over data privacy allegations. 'The biggest driver of growth [in operating costs] was expense for legal and other matters, which reflected the impact of $1.4 billion charge related to a settlement in principle of certain legal matters,' Ashkenazi said during a Wednesday earnings call. Dive Insight: Government litigation in areas such as data privacy and antitrust has been a growing headache for big tech companies and their finance leaders in recent years. Paxton sued Alphabet's Google in 2022, accusing the tech giant of unlawfully tracking and collecting users' private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data. In a May press release announcing the $1.4 billion settlement, Paxton's office said the amount marked the highest recovery nationwide against Google for any attorney general's enforcement of state privacy laws. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is pushing for the breakup of Google as part of a major antitrust case. The litigation dates back to late 2020 when the first Trump administration and several states sued Google alleging that it had violated the Sherman Act by holding monopolies in the search and search advertising markets. Recommended Reading Hewlett-Packard Enterprise taps HP Inc. CFO for finance chief Sign in to access your portfolio

Stoke Lodge field campaigner told to pay £85,000 in legal costs

BBC News

22-07-2025

Politics
BBC News

Stoke Lodge field campaigner told to pay £85,000 in legal costs

A campaigner has been ordered to pay £85,000 in legal bills after losing a court battle over who gets to use a playing Welham had been fighting for community access to a 23-acre green space used by Cotham School in June, the High Court ruled that Stoke Lodge playing field – which is being leased to the school by Bristol City Council - did not have to be council, which had been fighting the school alongside Ms Welham, has been ordered to pay legal bills of only £9,467. Both must pay by 28 July. Ms Welham said her costs would be paid by herself and members of the she and the council are now braced for further costs as the combined payments cover only 40% of the school's total legal bill. Cotham School was granted a 125-year lease on the land in 2011 due to lack of space on its inner city site three miles the school became involved in a dispute with residents after it put up a 6ft-high (2m) fence around the field in said it was forced to fence the site for safeguarding purposes for PE lessons, and due to out-of-control dogs and dog 2023, Bristol City Council voted to give the site "town green" status, and told the school it must share the playing field with the month, however, the move was revoked by a High Court Paul Matthews also ruled Bristol City Council and Ms Welham were liable to pay Cotham School's court Welham was denied permission to appeal. In a statement following the decision on legal bills, Cotham School said: "We welcome the recovery of public funds that were necessarily expended in protecting the school's playing field, which are required for our delivery of PE lessons."Ms Welham said the Stoke Lodge community was in "pure shock" at the division of the legal a statement, she said: "We are standing by our commitment and obligations, and I would like to emphasise that we hope that the money that is (unjustly, in my personal view) being required of me and my supporters, will be used to help mitigate any detriment to Cotham School pupils flowing from the effects of the school's repeated legal actions on its financial reserves."Finally, we as a community remain incandescently angry that our last accessible neighbourhood green space, that we love deeply, and which has been relied upon for many decades by the thousands of Bristol citizens who share it with Cotham School, is again in danger of not being protected as it should be."Our commitment to protect the land for future generations is undiminished." 'Chilling impact' A spokesperson for We Love Stoke Lodge residents' group, which campaigned alongside Ms Welham, told the BBC they were worried the judgement could have negative spokesperson said: "Despite the fact that the council was the first defendant in the litigation and was robustly defending a decision that the council itself had made, the court has ordered significant costs against the community."We believe this allocation could have a chilling impact on other community groups seeking to defend important matters of principle."The group said it would be seeking permission to appeal directly from the Court of Appeal, and said it has been given until mid-September to make an City Council declined to comment but said it would be complying with the court order.

State liable for herbicide contamination that devastated Limpopo farm for eight years

News24