- Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley, and four other high-profile figures have paid an initial £9.5m in legal fees after losing their High Court unlawful information gathering case against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
- Mr Justice Nicklin ordered the group of seven claimants to pay £9,544,355 within seven days as an initial contribution to the publisher’s costs, ahead of further hearings to determine the total sum.
- The judge ruled that ANL’s legal costs must be determined on a stricter indemnity basis, criticising the claimants for pursuing speculative and unsupported allegations of serious criminality against journalists.
- The court was previously told there was a shortfall between ANL’s total legal costs of over £34m and the group’s insurance cover of a combined £16.2 million.
- Associated Newspapers Limited described the ruling as an overwhelming victory, while any potential bids by the claimants to appeal the decisions must be submitted by 2 October.
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