Donald Trump must pay $821,000 legal bill over 'Steele dossier' lawsuit, UK court rules

LONDON (Reuters) -Donald Trump must pay over 626,000 pounds (about $821,500) in legal fees to a private investigations firm the U.S. president sued over a dossier which alleged ties between his 2016 election campaign and Russia, a London judge ruled on Thursday.

Trump brought a data protection lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence over allegations in a dossier written by its co-founder, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, but Trump's claim was thrown out last year.

The so-called Steele dossier alleged ties between Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia as well as other salacious accusations, all of which Trump strenously denied.

Trump had been ordered to make a payment of around 290,000 pounds towards Orbis' legal fees but failed to do so, Orbis' lawyers said at a previous hearing in January.

This meant Trump was barred from being represented at a further hearing this week to consider Orbis' total legal bill and whether its costs were reasonable.

Paul Arter, a costs lawyer for Orbis, said that Trump had very strong negotiating skills and was paying one of his own lawyers 750 pounds an hour.

Arter said the case was very important to both parties, with Orbis having concerns about its survival should it lose, while Trump was seeking to protect his reputation.

Faced with an opponent “renowned as an aggressive litigator” who “has a history of pursuing vendettas, certainly legally”, it justified the rates Orbis were paying for their lawyers, Arter said.

Judge Jason Rowley ruled that Trump owed Orbis 530,615 pounds, less than the more than 680,000 pounds Orbis had sought, but more than the 452,000 Orbis offered to accept.

He also said Trump should pay another 95,000 pounds relating to the dispute over costs, making a total of just over 626,000 pounds.

($1 = 0.7621 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael Holden; editing by Mark Heinrich)