PRINCE HARRY FACES MILLIONS IN LEGAL COSTS AFTER MAIL LAWSUIT DISMISSED

Prince Harry and six other public figures lost a High Court case against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail, following an 11-week trial in London. The group, which included Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sadie Frost, Elizabeth Hurley, David Furnish and former MP Sir Simon Hughes, accused the publisher of unlawful information gathering. A High Court judge dismissed all claims in a 436-page judgment delivered earlier this month. The case returned to court this week for a hearing on legal costs.

Associated Newspapers said the group should pay its legal costs on an indemnity basis rather than a standard basis, a distinction that would require the claimants to cover a larger portion of the publisher's expenses. ANL's costs exceeded £34 million, with a shortfall identified between this amount and the insurance cover available to the claimants. Lawyers for the publisher argued the legal action served a "collateral purpose" of pressuring the Government to establish the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry, characterising the litigation as "a campaign rather than ordinary and reasonable litigation". The group had launched the claims in October 2022 with a press release that ANL's legal team said was designed to attract significant public attention.

The outcome leaves the claimants potentially liable for substantial sums from their own resources to cover the publisher's legal fees. The costs hearing represents the final stage of the dispute after the substantive claims were rejected by the court.