Key facts
- Prince Harry and six other claimants lost a privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers.
- The judge dismissed all claims of unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and bugging.
- Doreen Lawrence, mother of Stephen Lawrence, will not be liable for any portion of the legal costs.
- Associated Newspapers is seeking to recover its legal costs, estimated by some to be as high as £50 million.
- The claimants' legal team failed to prove unlawful information gathering in any of the 55 stories cited.
Prince Harry and other high-profile figures, including social justice campaigner Doreen Lawrence, have lost a privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail. Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed all claims alleging unlawful methods to source stories, such as bugging, phone hacking, and blagging private information.
ANL will now seek to recover its legal costs, which are estimated by some to be as high as £50 million, although initial court-approved budgets were around £4.1 million for the claimants and £4.4 million for ANL. Insurance was in place to cover potential losses for the claimants.
Doreen Lawrence, who was reportedly convinced to join the legal action by Prince Harry, will not be required to pay any share of the costs, according to a source familiar with the matter. The judge found that the claimants' legal team failed to prove unlawful information gathering in relation to any of the 55 stories cited in the case.
Other claimants included Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, and Simon Hughes. The decision represents a comprehensive win for the Mail titles, and the claimants will now consider whether to appeal.