Farmer's daughter who successfully sued brothers over inheritance wins court costs of up to £500,000
The brothers of a farmer's daughter from Shropshire who successfully sued them after being written out of £9 million of family money by her dad's "sexist" will are facing a £1 million legal bill.
Julie Mate, aged 62, who is originally from West Yorkshire, took her brothers, Andrew and Robert Mate, to court after the pair were handed the entirety of their parents' dairy farm in Netherton, near Huddersfield.
Julie, who now lives in north Shropshire, said she was "devastated and dumbfounded" when her dad, Donald Mate, died in 1992 and left his share of the farm to his wife Shirley and two sons, with Shirley, now 89, later also giving her share to the boys.
She complained she and her two sisters – who got £36,000 between them in the will – were the victims of old-fashioned sexist tradition, with "us girls" left next to "nowt" for years of graft.
She did not challenge the will, but last week won a £652,000 payout from her brothers' fortune after a judge found it was her work in moving some of the farm's land from green belt so it could be sold to developers that allowed the brothers to pocket £9 million.
Now a judge has ordered the two brothers to pick up the vast majority of the legal bill for the case because they refused to settle out of court.
Judge Andrew Sutcliffe KC said in the High Court on Wednesday that the brothers would have to pay 75 per cent of Julie's lawyers' bills - estimated at about £500,000 - with about £269,000 up front, pending a full assessment.
On top of their own lawyers' bills, it means the pair are set to have to fork out more than £1million.
In making the order, the judge said: "There can be no doubt that Julie was the successful party."
He said the assessment of the brothers' bill would be done on the punishing 'indemnity' basis after last September, because they had rejected an offer by Julie to settle the case for £650,000.
"In view of the fact that Robert and Andrew's acceptance of Julie's offer would have resulted in there being no trial, it is appropriate that they should be required to pay Julie's costs of the indemnity basis from September 6, 2022 onwards," he said.
He ordered them to pay £268,993.83 up front, representing half of Julie's costs up to September 5, and 65 per cent after that, pending a full assessment.
