Planned costs of Harry and Mail publisher legal battle ‘excessive’, judges rule

Planned costs of Harry and Mail publisher legal battle ‘excessive’, judges rule
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Planned costs of Harry and Mail publisher legal battle ‘excessive’, judges rule
Author: Callum Parke
Published: Jan, 24 2025 10:55

Several high-profile individuals including the Duke of Sussex should spend over £14 million less than they proposed for their legal battle with the publisher of the Daily Mail, two High Court judges have ruled. Harry is among a group of people – including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, and politician Sir Simon Hughes – who are bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over alleged misuse of private information.

ANL firmly denies the allegations and is defending the legal action. In a ruling on Friday following a preliminary hearing in November last year, Mr Justice Nicklin and Judge David Cook said the two sides had proposed to spend more than £38.8 million in the legal claim combined, with the claimants proposing to spend around £18.7 million.

But Judge Cook said he and Mr Justice Nicklin “had little difficulty concluding that such sums were manifestly excessive and therefore disproportionate”. The pair ruled that the claimants could spend around £4.1 million, and ANL around £4.5 million, in the case.

The trial of the claims could be heard in 2026, with Judge Cook stating that the “anticipated length of the trial will be 45 days”. The claimants have accused ANL of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities, such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records, burglaries to order and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

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