Prince Harry, celebrities ordered to pay $18m – but final court bill could be higher
The court ruling exposes Harry and others, including rock star Elton John and model Elizabeth Hurley, to even greater costs after a judge dismissed their long-running claim against the Daily Mail’s publisher.
Prince Harry, Elton John, and other celebrities have been ordered to pay an initial £9.54 million ($13 million) to the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers, after losing their privacy case. The payment is due by August 28. According to The Korea Times, Judge Matthew Nicklin ruled that the claimants' failed privacy lawsuits were conducted in an unreasonable way.
The claimants, which also include model Elizabeth Hurley, accused the Daily Mail of unlawful activities such as phone hacking, bugging cars and homes, and accessing bank accounts and medical records. However, Nicklin rejected the allegations last month. The court also ruled that the additional costs should be paid on an indemnity basis, meaning Associated Newspapers does not need to show they were reasonable and proportionate.
The full extent of the payments due to Associated Newspapers has not been announced, but the publisher's total costs in defending itself reached about £34.5 million by July 9, according to Gulf News. If the parties cannot agree on the final costs, they will be assessed in separate proceedings.
Brief written by urgent.news from The Age, The Korea Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Gulf News, Le Monde English — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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