LONDON (Reuters) –A London judge ruled on Thursday that Donald Trump must pay more than 626,000 pounds (about $821,500) in legal fees to a private investigations firm that he sued over a dossier alleging ties between his 2016 election campaign and Russia.
Trump filed a data protection lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence based on allegations in a dossier written by its co-founder, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, but Trump’s claim was dismissed last year.
The so-called Steele dossier alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia, among other salacious allegations, which Trump categorically denied.
Trump was ordered to pay Orbis’ legal fees in the amount of around 290,000 pounds, but he failed to do so, according to Orbis’ lawyers at a previous January hearing.
This meant Trump couldn’t be represented at a subsequent hearing this week to consider Orbis’ total legal bill and whether its costs were reasonable.
Orbis’s costs lawyer, Paul Arter, stated that Trump had excellent negotiating skills and was paying one of his own lawyers 750 pounds per hour.
Arter stated that the case was very important to both parties, with Orbis concerned about its survival if it lost, and Trump looking to protect his reputation.
Faced with an opponent “renowned as an aggressive litigator” who “has a history of pursuing vendettas, certainly legally,” the rates Orbis paid for their lawyers were justified, according to Arter.
Judge Jason Rowley ruled that Trump owed Orbis 530,615 pounds, which was less than the more than 680,000 pounds Orbis had requested but more than the 452,000 pounds Orbis had agreed to accept.
He also stated that Trump should pay an additional 95,000 pounds in relation to the cost dispute, for a total of slightly more than 626,000.
($1 equals 0.7621 pounds).
