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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Crime & Justice

Prince Harry and co-claimants face huge legal bill due to insurance shortfall

From The Guardian · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Prince Harry and six other claimants face substantial legal costs after losing their privacy case against the Daily Mail's publisher.
  • Their insurance coverage of £16.2 million falls short of the publisher's reported costs, estimated at £34.5 million.
  • The claimants are being asked to pay the publisher's costs on an indemnity basis, meaning they must cover the full amount without proportionality checks.

The Duke of Sussex and six co-claimants are staring down a potentially massive legal bill after their privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, was dismissed. The claimants, which include Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence, and Elton John, sued ANL for alleged unlawful information gathering. However, their legal insurance cover of £16.2 million may not be enough to meet ANL's reported costs of £34.5 million, leaving them millions of pounds out of pocket.

During a High Court hearing to determine cost allocation, ANL's lawyers argued that the claimants should pay its legal expenses on an indemnity basis. This means the losing party covers the other side's costs without needing to prove they are proportionate. ANL is seeking an interim payment of nearly £10 million, while the claimants have offered £8 million.

of the broadest scope and utmost seriousness

— Antony White KCDescribing the allegations made by the claimants against Associated Newspapers Limited.

Antony White KC, representing ANL, contended that the claimants' conduct justified the stricter indemnity basis. He described the allegations of misconduct, which spanned "77 journalists, editors and executives," as being "of the broadest scope and utmost seriousness." White stated that some allegations were abandoned without apology, and the legal action was part of a "campaign" to influence the government regarding the Leveson inquiry.

White further characterized the litigation as the "vanguard" of a strategy to initiate a "banquet of litigation" against ANL, aiming to overwhelm the publisher. He suggested that even if not all allegations were proven, any finding against ANL would be a "catastrophe." He controversially stated that Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, was recruited to the case by Prince Harry as a "national treasure" to gain public sympathy and credibility, a point he expressed regret over but felt compelled to address.

That is a matter of regret for my client, but it is not to be shrunk from

— Antony White KCReferring to the recruitment of Doreen Lawrence to the case by Prince Harry.
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Originally published by The Guardian. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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