High-Profile Britons Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million in Privacy Lawsuit Against Daily Mail

Prince Harry and six other prominent British figures have been ordered to make an initial payment of £9.54 million, approximately $13 million, to The Daily Mail publisher following their loss in a privacy lawsuit.

In July, the group of claimants—including singer Elton John and actress Liz Hurley—failed in their attempt to sue Associated Newspapers over allegations of phone hacking and privacy violations spanning from 1993 to 2011. On Friday, a High Court judge in London ordered the claimants to make an initial “on account” payment by August 28 for the legal costs incurred by the newspaper company.

In a written statement summarizing the ruling, Judge Sir Matthew Nicklin stated that “the reasonable sum on account is £9,544,355.” The judge declined to impose a cap on the total payment, meaning the claimants could eventually face up to £34.5 million in costs, representing what Associated Newspapers claimed it had incurred through July.

However, the judge noted that Associated’s costs “appear exceptionally high” and “largely unexplained,” indicating that a court assessment will follow to determine the appropriate final amount.

The ruling comes shortly after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced their plans to return to Britain with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. This court case represents Harry’s final legal action against Britain’s tabloid newspapers, with whom he has had a strained relationship.

The seven claimants ordered to pay the initial multimillion-pound fee include Harry; Elton John and his husband David Furnish; former lawmaker Simon Hughes; actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley; and Doreen Lawrence, a House of Lords member and social justice advocate whose son was a victim in a notorious 1993 racist murder case.

The claimants had accused private investigators of tapping phone calls, intercepting voicemail messages, and deceiving individuals to obtain phone numbers, medical records, and bills. During the trial, Harry testified in court, traveling from the United States to attend the hearing. Both current and former Associated Newspapers employees also appeared in court, denying any wrongdoing.

In July, the judge ruled that Harry and the other high-profile claimants failed to prove “that the information complained of had been obtained unlawfully.”

The judge rejected the claimants’ request to cap costs at between £18 million and £20 million, arguing that such a cap would represent “no more than a judicial estimate of what appears, at this stage, to be a reasonable maximum” and would be vulnerable to claims of arbitrariness. He also noted it could risk unfairness to Associated Newspapers by depriving them of the opportunity to demonstrate, through proper evidence and legal proceedings, that costs above the cap were reasonably incurred.

The judge expressed skepticism about the scale of the costs claimed, writing that he regards a claim for costs in excess of £34 million as “excessive” and raising concerns about whether all claimed costs were reasonably incurred and reasonable in amount.

According to The Law Society Gazette, the celebrity claimants have legal insurance coverage up to £16.2 million in the event of losing the case.

Source link