A group of prominent plaintiffs, led by Prince Harry and Elton John, faces a substantial bill for legal costs after their privacy lawsuit against a newspaper owner was dismissed.
In a ruling issued on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin directed the seven claimants to provide an interim payment of $13 million (£9.54 million) to cover the defence costs incurred by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, during the case.
The group, which also features Elizabeth Hurley and John’s husband David Furnish, is required to settle this initial sum by 4pm on 28 August.
The claimants had accused ANL of unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking, and following a trial, Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims on 7 July.
In his Friday ruling, he stated that the remaining amount should be paid on an indemnity basis, meaning that Prince Harry and the other claimants must contribute to ANL’s legal costs without the publisher needing to prove the sum was reasonable.
Nicklin described the group’s claims as resting on speculative and inferential foundations and their conduct as unreasonable to a high degree.
During a hearing last month, ANL’s representatives claimed their legal bill stood at about $47 million (£34.5 million), while the claimants only had an insurance policy covering just over $22 million (£16 million).
In his decision, Justice Nicklin noted that ANL’s costs were excessive, suggesting the group may not be obligated to pay the full amount.
“I regard a claim for costs in excess of £34 million as, on its face, excessive and as giving rise to real concerns as to whether all of the costs now claimed by Associated were reasonably incurred and are reasonable in amount,” he wrote, according to BBC News.
The claimants – who also include actress Sadie Frost, politician Sir Simon Hughes and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence – have until 2 October to appeal.
ANL’s representatives stated in a Friday briefing that the ruling amounted to a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and harm the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives.
The decision arrives days after it emerged that Prince Harry, Meghan, and their children Archie and Lilibet are planning to move back to the United Kingdom later this month after six years in California.
