Man Sues Wife For Opening His Bank Statement, Wife Pays £54,000 Court bill

Man Sues Wife: A man sued his wife for opening his bank statement to see if he was cheating on her. She then had to pay a whopping £54,000 to the court.

Both Karen Santi and her ex-husband Lawrence Santi operated numerous pubs in London for more than a decade. However, the couple broke up last year, and Karen decided to investigate whether Lawrence was having an affair or not. She got access to some of his 'privileged material's, which included one of his Lloyds Bank statements.

The London high court has now slapped her with a $96,220 bill which according to her lawyers, will “wipe out the wife’s liquid assets”.

However, Lawrence's lawyers feel that Karen deserved this for breaching her husband's privacy.

The man sued his wife in December 2020 and sought an urgent interim injunction in court. At the December 22 hearing, Karen gave undertakings to the court that she wouldn't delete all the private information she had obtained.

The ex-couple again appeared in court last week, and Lawrence demanded that Karen clear his lawyers' bill of £90,000. His lawyer said that Mrs Santi thought that she could get away with this, and also contacted a financial advisor. "The interests of justice require that this concludes with a costs order in the husband's favour," he said.

However, Karen's lawyer Tim Scott QC said that there was nothing serious about the matter. He also said that she shouldn't have to pay the amount too. "The wife has some £40,000 in the bank and owes some £80,000 to her lawyers....She is already in deficit and has had to borrow money to pay her counsel today," he said, telling the judge the husband's costs of the privacy hearing were around £90,000," he said.

Then Mr Justice Nicklin, giving his ruling, said: "The parties are husband and wife. They are presently divorcing. These proceedings involve misuse of private information." He then added that Karen shouldn't have accessed confidential information.

Finally, the judge ordered the wife to pay a £54,000 court bill.

Man sues wife: Who is Lawrence Santi?

Lawrence Santi, the man sued his wife is the founder and CEO of Marylebone Leisure Group which runs  12 high-end pubs and restaurants. He was born into a family of restaurateurs and his grandfather ran two of London's most popular clubs.