Prince Harry among names facing wait over legal fees payment to Mail after failed High Court case

The Duke of Sussex and six other prominent figures are awaiting a High Court ruling on the significant legal costs they may have to pay to the Daily Mail’s publisher following their unsuccessful lawsuit.

Those involved include Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, who accused Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) of illegally collecting information.

ANL vehemently denied the allegations, prompting an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all allegations on 7 July.

The High Court reconvened for a two-day hearing this week to determine costs and found ANL’s total expenses exceeded £34 million.

At the end of Thursday’s hearing, Mr Justice Nicklin said he would make a written decision next month on the size of the group’s first payment to ANL and how the costs would be assessed.

The judge described the scale of the costs in the claims as “unprecedented” in a media law case in the High Court.

ANL, which also publishes The Mail on Sunday, has sought more than £9.9 million in interim payments ahead of future hearings to settle its legal costs in depth.

Antony White KC, on behalf of the publisher, said in written submissions that there was “no dispute that Associated was entitled to payment for its expenses” from the household names group; The court later said this would be a “global” figure that could be divided among the group.

Lawyers for the well-known group, which includes David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes, said the interim payment should be just over £7.9 million.

Nicolas Bacon KC, on behalf of the group, said in written submissions that the level of interim payment requested by ANL was “manifestly excessive”.

He said: “Associated’s estimated costs have been significantly reduced in every case where they have been assessed by the court and have been reduced by more than half in every case where such costs have been judicially assessed.”

Mr Justice Nicklin said the plaintiffs must pay the interim payment on 28 August, adding: “They will pay a sum of money which I will confirm in the judgment.”

During the hearing, ANL’s lawyers said the family names group should pay damages rather than on a standard basis, which would be more advantageous for ANL in terms of the amount they could get back.

Mr White said the legal claims were brought for the “secondary purpose” of pressuring the Government to launch the second phase of the Leveson Inquiry, describing it as “a campaign rather than an ordinary and reasonable case”.

But Mr Bacon, speaking on Sir Simon’s behalf on Thursday, said the former MP’s claim was “limited”, adding: “He wishes to make clear through me that he is not a campaigner against the Associated.

“He has made no public statements against Associated or its employees.”

Mr Bacon later said in written submissions that the group of seven having to pay ANL’s costs on this stricter basis could have been “very significant” and could have left them without adequate insurance cover.

He said that, as standard, a judge would need good reason to award more costs than set out in court-approved budgets, but this did not apply if costs were awarded on an indemnity basis.

Mr Bacon said ANL’s costs as of the beginning of this month were around £34.5 million, which was “exceeding its approved budget by more than £18.6 million”.

The lawyer added that the family names group had secured insurance cover totaling £16.2 million.

He continued: “If claimants were required to pay Associated’s costs on an indemnity basis, the current level of cover would not be sufficient to cover their total costs, possibly millions of pounds.”

Mr Justice Nicklin is expected to deliver his written decision the week of 17 August.