Britain’s Prince Harry, singer Elton John and other high-profile claimants have been ordered to make an interim payment of £9.54 million towards the legal costs of the publisher of the Daily Mail after a judge ruled that their failed privacy lawsuit was pursued in an unreasonable manner.
High Court Judge Matthew Nicklin, in a costs judgment published recently, ordered the claimants to pay the sum by August 28 to Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
The judge also ordered that additional legal costs be assessed on an “indemnity basis”, a decision that gives Associated Newspapers greater scope to recover its costs without having to demonstrate that they were reasonable and proportionate.
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Nicklin last month rejected the lawsuit brought by Prince Harry, John and four other claimants, dismissing allegations that the Mail titles had engaged in widespread unlawful practices, including phone hacking.
In his latest ruling, the judge strongly criticised the way the claimants had presented their case, saying some serious allegations were based on “speculative and inferential” evidence and had not been withdrawn after they were no longer being pursued.
“In my judgment, the cumulative effect of these matters takes the case well outside the norm. The conduct was unreasonable to a high degree,” Nicklin said.
Associated Newspapers described the costs ruling as “another overwhelming victory for the Mail and its journalism”.
There was no immediate comment from Prince Harry’s spokesperson.
Harry had previously described the dismissal of the lawsuit in July as “a complete and obvious whitewash”.
The 41-year-old prince has repeatedly criticised the British press over its treatment of his late mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
During testimony in January, Harry, who became visibly emotional in the witness box, accused the Daily Mail of making his wife Meghan’s life “an absolute misery”.
