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Prince Harry could be facing a significant financial setback after the publisher of the Daily Mail requested an initial £10 million payment from the Duke of Sussex and the other claimants following their defeat in court against Associated Newspapers.
The move comes just weeks after a High Court judge dismissed the group’s £50 million privacy lawsuit, describing the claims as speculative. The claimants had alleged that the publisher engaged in unlawful information gathering, but the judge ruled that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the case.
At a hearing today, the High Court was told that Associated Newspapers is seeking to recover its legal costs on an indemnity basis. If approved, the claimants and their legal teams could be ordered to cover the full legal costs incurred by both sides.
According to The Daily Mail, any order for legal costs would still be subject to a reasonableness assessment by the court. During the hearing, it was revealed that Associated Newspapers’ legal costs totalled around £34 million.
The publisher’s lead barrister, Antony White KC, argued that the claimants had pursued much of their case without supporting documentary evidence. He told the court: “The extent of this shifting case was highly unreasonable and inexcusable.
“It led to significant costs and time being wasted by Associated in preparing to meet allegations, only to find them being subsequently abandoned or changed at trial.”
Mr White told the judge: “If the claimants’ conduct in these proceedings does not attract an order for indemnity costs, then it is difficult to see what case would.”
The hearing, which opened today at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, is expected to last up to two days.
Representing the claimants, the legal team argued that Associated Newspapers’ legal bill was “astonishingly high” and claimed the publisher was attempting to “teach the claimants a lesson” by pursuing the maximum possible costs.
The claimants’ barrister, David Sherborne, said: “Associated has adopted a ‘no expense spared’ approach to this litigation and such costs should not be condoned by the court from an inter partes perspective.
“It would have a particularly harsh impact on the seven individual claimants in these proceedings, who will bear personal liability for Associated’s costs in excess of their [insurance] cover. They have approached this litigation in good faith, under the burden of decades of intense, intrusive media scrutiny into their private lives.”
Prince Harry and the six other claimants—including Sir Elton John, Liz Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence—were not present at the hearing. Mr Justice Nicklin is expected to deliver his ruling at a later date.
