£290k
US President Donald Trump has reportedly invoked “sovereign immunity” in an attempt to avoid a substantial legal bill after his lawsuit against a private investigation firm in England was dismissed.
Trump brought the claim against Orbis Business Intelligence after a dossier written by its co-founder, Christopher Steele, was published by BuzzFeed in 2017. The account alleges ties between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia, alongside other allegations including that Trump engaged in “perverted sexual acts”, all of which he profusely denies.
The claim was thrown out last year by the High Court on the grounds that there were “no reasonable grounds for bringing a claim for compensation or damages”. The judge made it clear that “I have not considered, or made any determination, as to the accuracy or inaccuracy of the (allegations).”
Now, however, The Independent reports that a court in London has heard that POTUS has “decided not to pay” to pay £290,000 of legal fees to Orbis.
Lawyers for the PI firm said that Trump was claiming “sovereign immunity” against the judgment, before stating that this was “completely hopeless” as this case was a private lawsuit.
Jacqueline Perry KC, representing Trump, said the court was in a “slightly unusual position, with a slightly unusual client”.
“It’s difficult to get instructions when your client is president of the free world and trying to turn everything upside down,” she said. “This isn’t high in his area of importance.”
She went on to say that Trump was “an innocent party in this”, and was in fact bringing a negligence claim against his former legal advisors for bringing his claim against Orbis under the wrong statute.
“That was the only reason the case was struck out,” she continued, adding that he intended to deal first with the negligence issue before turning to Orbis’ “eye-wateringly” high costs.
This didn’t land with the judge, however, who ordered Trump to pay the £290,000 in 28 days. If he fails to do so his lawyers will be prevented from addressing the court on future arguments about Orbis’ fees, which total in excess of £600,000.
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