Harry and others face wait over size of legal fees payment to Mail publisher

The Duke of Sussex and six other household names face a wait to find out how many millions of pounds they will have to initially pay to the Daily Mail’s publisher in legal costs after their failed High Court case.The high-profile figures, also including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information-gathering.ANL strongly denied the claims which were heard at an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all the cases in a judgment on July 7.The cases returned to the High Court this week for a two-day hearing over costs, where the court was told ANL’s total costs were more than £34 million.Sir Elton John was among the group of seven who sued ANL (Aaron Chown/PA)PA ArchiveAt the end of the hearing on Thursday, Mr Justice Nicklin said he would give his decision on the size of an initial payment the group will make to ANL, as well as how the costs will be assessed, in a written ruling next month.Read MoreThe judge described the size of the costs in the claims as “unprecedented” for a High Court media law case.ANL, which also publishes The Mail on Sunday, has asked for more than £9.9 million as an interim payment ahead of future hearings to decide its legal costs in depth.Antony White KC, for the publisher, said in written submissions that there was “no dispute that Associated is entitled to payments on account of its costs” from the group of household names, with the court later told this would be a “global” figure which could be split between the group.Lawyers for the group of household names, also including David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes, said the interim payment should be just over £7.9 million.Nicolas Bacon KC, for the group, said in written submissions that the level of interim payment sought by ANL was “manifestly excessive”.Liz Hurley attending one of the court hearings (Jordan Pettitt/PA)PA ArchiveHe said: “Associated’s estimated costs have been subject to significant reduction whenever they have been considered by the court, and have been reduced by over half on every occasion that such costs have been judicially considered.”Mr Justice Nicklin said the claimants would need to pay the interim payment on August 28, adding: “They are going to be paying a sum of money that I will confirm in the judgment.”During the hearing, lawyers for ANL said the group of household names should pay on an indemnity rather than a standard basis, which would be more favourable to ANL in terms of the amount they can recover.Mr White said the legal claims were brought for a “collateral purpose” of trying to pressure the Government into introducing the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry, describing it as “a campaign rather than ordinary and reasonable litigation”.However, speaking on behalf of Sir Simon on Thursday, Mr Bacon said the former MP’s claim was “limited”, adding: “He wishes to make it clear through me that he was not a campaigner against Associated.“He made no public statements adverse to Associated or its employees.”Baroness Doreen Lawrence arriving for a hearing last year (Ben Whitley/PA)PA ArchiveMr Bacon later said in written submissions that it could be “very significant” if the group of seven had to pay ANL’s costs on this stricter basis and could lead to them being without enough insurance cover.He said that on the standard basis, a judge will need a good reason to award more costs than were set out in court-approved budgets, but this does not apply when costs are awarded on an indemnity basis.Mr Bacon said ANL’s incurred costs as of earlier this month were nearly £34.5 million, which “exceed its approved budget” by more than £18.6 million.The barrister added that the group of household names has obtained insurance cover of a combined £16.2 million.He continued: “If the claimants were required to pay Associated’s costs on the indemnity basis, however, the current level of cover would be insufficient to meet their total costs exposure, possibly to the tune of many millions of pounds.”Mr Justice Nicklin is expected to give his written ruling in the week of August 17.