Court to hear submissions on estimated €1.5m costs of Nikita Hand’s action against Conor McGregor and his friend

A High Court judge will hear arguments on Thursday about who should be liable for the estimated €1.5m legal costs of civil actions by Nikita Hand arising from her claim she was raped by Mixed Martial Arts fighter Conor McGregor.
In her civil action for damages, Ms Hand (35) alleged Mr McGregor raped her in the Beacon hotel in Dublin on December 9th 2018.
On November 22nd, a jury awarded her €248,603 in damages after upholding her claim Mr McGregor assaulted her by raping her.
Ms Hand, a mother of one who was working as a hair colourist in 2018, told the jury she did not want to have sex, she felt uncomfortable, she and Mr McGregor had mutual friends, and she told Mr McGregor that “in a nice way”. She was menstruating at the time with a tampon inside her and would not have sex during her period, she said.
Mr McGregor, she said, “would not take no for an answer” and she stopped resisting him after he put her in a chokehold three times, leaving her struggling to breathe.
Mr McGregor denied rape and said they had “vigorous”, “athletic” and “fully consensual” sex without “an iota of distress” from Ms Hand.
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Ms Hand also sued Mr McGregor’s friend James Lawrence (35), of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, after he made a statement to gardaí in February 2019 alleging he had consensual sex twice with her after Mr McGregor left the hotel.
Ms Hand said in evidence she had no memory of having sex with Mr Lawrence and described it as a “made-up story”.
In its verdict, the jury of eight women and four men found Ms Hand was not assaulted by Mr Lawrence.
The civil action was initiated in autumn 2020 after the DPP decided not to bring a criminal prosecution against either man.
The costs of the case, which ran for 12 days and involved several pre-trial applications, have been estimated by legal sources about €1.5 million.
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Ms Hand was represented by two senior counsel, John Gordon and Ray Boland, and barrister Siún Leonowicz, instructed by Coleman Legal LLP.
Mr McGregor was represented by Remy Farrell SC, with barrister Shelley Horan, instructed by Michael J Staines & Company Solicitors.
Mr Lawrence was represented by John Fitzgerald SC, with barrister Justice McQuade, also instructed by the Staines firm.
During the trial, the jury heard Mr McGregor was paying Mr Lawrence’s legal fees.
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Mr Justice Alexander Owens adjourned costs issues to Thursday. In the interim, the judge was to receive costs submissions from the parties.
It is unclear if the judge will decide costs liability immediately or reserve his decision to another date. The general rules is that costs follow the event, meaning costs go to the winner of the case, but judges have ultimate discretion concerning costs orders.
The fact that Ms Hand won her claim against Mr McGregor but that her claim of assault against Mr Lawrence was rejected is a complicating factor.
Legal sources have speculated the judge may be asked to consider that social media posts critical of Ms Hand were posted on Mr McGregor’s X account after the verdict. Those posts were later deleted.