Prince Harry, along with six other high-profile individuals including Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sadie Frost, Elizabeth Hurley, and Sir Simon Hughes, have been ordered by a High Court judge to pay an initial £9.5 million (approximately $13 million) to Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).
This payment comes after they lost their privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, which alleged unlawful information gathering activities such as phone tapping and blagging private records. The High Court judge, Mr. Justice Nicklin, dismissed all claims in July, stating that the claimants failed to prove their allegations.
ANL had sought over £9.9 million for initial costs, while the claimants argued for a payment of just over £7.9 million. The judge ordered the £9,544,355 payment to be made by August 28. ANL's total legal costs for defending the case reportedly spiraled to £34.5 million, significantly exceeding the £16.2 million covered by the claimants' insurance policy.
The judge also ruled that the final amount the claimants must pay will be determined on an indemnity basis, which is a stricter assessment and means the sum is not limited by what costs the publishers reasonably incurred. This decision was based on the court's view that the litigation was pursued in a way that was "well outside of the norm" due to the breadth of the case and the continued pursuit of serious allegations without adequate evidence.
Despite the significant interim payment, the full extent of the legal bill remains undecided and will be subject to a detailed assessment in a future hearing. The claimants, in a joint statement following the initial ruling in July, expressed their disappointment, calling it "a complete and obvious whitewash."
