Prince Harry's embarrassing loss in major lawsuit
Prince Harry and six other plaintiffs, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, were ordered to pay an initial 9.5 million pounds to the publisher of the Daily Mail. This follows the court's ruling that they failed to prove the newspaper used illegal means to obtain information about them.
Another blow to Prince Harry in his fight against the British press: The High Court in London ordered him and the six other plaintiffs in the privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail to pay an initial 9.5 million pounds, about 13 million dollars, in legal costs. The payment is to be made by August 28.
The decision comes about a month after Harry and the other plaintiffs lost the lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the company that publishes the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. The seven claimed that the newspapers had used illegal methods over the years to obtain private information about their lives, including phone hacking, voicemail interception, and the use of private investigators. Judge Matthew Nicklin ruled that the plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to prove that the information was indeed obtained by illegal means. He noted that even when suspicions are understandable and even apparently justified, a suspicion, even an understandable one, is not proof.
The defeat comes at a particularly interesting time for Harry: just days after it was learned that he and Meghan Markle are planning to return to live in the UK, after more than six years in the United States. The legal process was particularly long and expensive. The trial lasted 11 weeks and ended in July, after Harry himself testified in court. During his testimony, he spoke about the impact that the press's intrusion into his life had and the damage caused to his wife, Meghan Markle, as well. He even claimed that the media's conduct made Meghan's life a total misery.
Standing alongside Harry in the lawsuit were singer Elton John and his husband, film producer David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, human rights activist Doreen Lawrence, and former politician Simon Hughes. All of them claimed that the newspaper used improper methods to obtain details about their private lives.
For Harry, this is a particularly significant defeat, as this is the third time he has waged a major legal battle against one of the British tabloids. In 2023, he won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers after the court determined that phone hacking was widely used. Last year, he reached a settlement with the publisher of The Sun after the company apologized to him for intruding into his private life. This time, the result was completely the opposite. The court accepted the journalists' explanations regarding how the information was obtained and determined that there is a real possibility that the articles were based on legitimate sources. The judge rejected the claim that illegal activity was widespread in the newspaper's editorial office.
Associated Newspapers welcomed the decision and called it a crushing victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists. The company claimed that the verdict is a magnificent vindication of its journalists' work and that each of the disputed articles was based on legitimate sources. The 9.5 million pounds is likely just the beginning. The total cost of the proceedings for the publisher has accumulated to more than 34 million pounds, and the remaining amount is expected to be demanded from the plaintiffs later. A significant part of the amount is covered by insurance, but it is still a particularly heavy legal bill.
