Rebel Wilson’s application to have $1.3m of her $1.4m legal costs paid by Bauer Media, which was found to have defamed her, has been refused by an Australian court.
In September Wilson was awarded the highest defamation payout in Australian history –$4.5m including $650,000 in general and aggravated damages – but the matter of costs remained in dispute.
It is expected that the actor will have at least 80% of those costs – or $1.123m – repaid.
Her lawyers argued she should get at least $1.3m back, asking the Victorian supreme court Justice John Dixon to assess and award a “gross sum costs order”.
On Thursday the court ruled that Bauer would have to pay most of the actor’s legal costs but not as a gross sum.
The judgment means she may have to wait until the end of the year to be reimbursed while the costs are settled in the usual manner.
But Dixon did certify the cost of her counsel, Dr Matthew Collins, at the rate of $9,000 a day, and approved the cost of a security guard, which he said was “reasonable”.
“There was an unusually large public interest in the proceeding,” Dixon said. “It came to my attention during the course of the trial that the plaintiff had been approached in an inappropriate fashion by a member of the public.
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