A United Kingdom court has ordered Elton John, Prince Harry and other claimants to repay £9.54 million ($13 million) in legal costs after their hacking lawsuit against the Daily Mail was dismissed.
London’s High Court rejected the case in July, finding no basis for claims that the newspaper published stories after unlawfully obtaining information by hacking into messages, tapping landlines or acquiring medical records.
Judge’s criticism#
In a ruling on Friday (Aug. 21), Judge Mr. Justice Nicklin criticised the claimants’ legal team over how the case was presented. He wrote:
“The objective breadth and character of the case as advanced, the speculative and inferential foundation on which many serious allegations rested, the maintenance of serious allegations after the evidential position should have been reassessed, the way in which unpleaded or unsupported allegations were put at trial, the failure to withdraw serious allegations when they were no longer being pursued, and the cumulative effect of those matters.”
Costs and appeal deadline#
Nicklin made an exception order requiring the claimants to pay up to £34.5 million ($47 million) in costs incurred by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the Daily Mail’s publisher, because of the way the case was brought.
- Initial payment of £9.54 million due by Aug. 28
- Potential total costs of up to £34.5 million ($47 million)
- Appeal deadline of Oct. 2 for John and co-claimants
The claimants also made unsupportable claims that leading ANL executives had lied to the Leveson public inquiry, a 2011 inquiry into the practices of the British press following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Nicklin wrote: “The case as pleaded and pursued went substantially beyond what was necessary for the adjudication of the individual claims.”
John and the other claimants have until Oct. 2 to attempt to launch an appeal. The interim payment will be made before future hearings determine ANL’s legal costs in full.
