Prince Harry and Others Ordered to Pay $13 Million in Legal Costs to Daily Mail Publisher

A UK High Court has ordered Prince Harry, Elton John, Liz Hurley, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and three other claimants to pay an initial $13 million (£9.5 million) to cover legal costs incurred by the Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited. The payment is due by August 28, and the total bill is estimated to exceed $46 million (£34 million).

The claimants had alleged that the newspaper engaged in unlawful information-gathering, including alleged phone-hacking, payments to police officials with links to private investigators, and impersonation to obtain medical records. The court rejected the claims in July, with Mr Justice Nicklin stating that the applicants failed to prove their allegations and that the evidence did not demonstrate that the information must have been obtained unlawfully.

Associated Newspapers described the allegations as “preposterous smears” and said they appeared to be a “pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal.”

"The ruling is a whitewash," Prince Harry said in a statement.

The judgment indicates that the claimants will likely face further payments to satisfy the publisher’s full legal expenses.