UK High Court orders Prince Harry and other celebrities to pay initial £9.5 million legal costs to Daily Mail publisher
Prince Harry, Elton John and six other claimants must pay an initial £9.5 million toward the legal fees of Associated Newspapers after losing a case over alleged unlawful information gathering.
A UK High Court judge ordered Prince Harry, Elton John, his husband David Furnish and five other high-profile claimants to pay an initial £9.5 million (about $13 million) to Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, by 4 p.m. on Aug. 28. The payment is an advance on the total costs the group may ultimately owe after losing a lawsuit that alleged ANL obtained information for stories published between 1997 and 2015 through illegal means.
Judge Matthew Nicklin said the claimants had framed their case “on an unjustifiably wide canvas” and that their arguments were “outside the ordinary and reasonable conduct of civil proceedings,” although he noted that some points had substance. The court did not require ANL to prove the reasonableness of its cost claim; instead, the claimants must challenge the amount if they deem it excessive.
ANL had previously estimated its legal costs at £34.5 million, which the judge described as “exceptionally high.” The court declined to set a cap on those costs, indicating that a specialist judge could later assess the amount more precisely.
“The consequences are significant. The Mail can now seek costs well above the court-approved budget and the £16 million insurance cap,” said Iain Wilson, managing partner at Brett Wilson law firm.
Other claimants included campaigner Doreen Lawrence, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and former politician Simon Hughes. Hughes said he was disappointed with the ruling and was considering an appeal. The court dismissed the claimants’ allegations that ANL used private investigators for voicemail interception, phone tapping and deceptive acquisition of private records, finding no proof that the information used in the contested articles was obtained unlawfully.
The decision follows previous legal actions by Prince Harry against British tabloids, including successful challenges to News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers.