Prince Harry Seeks £2 Million in Legal Fees

Prince Harry’s legal representative urged a judge on Monday to compel the Daily Mirror tabloid’s publisher to pay nearly 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) towards the legal expenses incurred in establishing that Mirror Group Newspapers violated his privacy by engaging in phone hacking and employing unlawful tactics to unearth stories about him.

Last month, the Duke of Sussex was granted damages of 140,000 pounds ($178,000) after the court determined that phone hacking was prevalent and routine at Mirror newspapers, with executives covering up these activities.

Even though Prince Harry’s initial claim was not fully satisfied, the amount he was paid represented a major victory in his legal battle against the British media. He has filed other lawsuits against tabloid publishers, including this one, which represents a break from his family’s custom of never taking legal action. He created history in June when he testified in court as the first senior royal to do so in more than a century.

Prince Harry, 39, the estranged younger son of King Charles III, is expected to return to court in the coming year for similar trials against The Sun and Daily Mail, alleging unlawful intrusion. He recently withdrew a libel case against the Mail publisher following an unfavorable pretrial ruling.

The subject of the latest hearing was legal fees associated with a trial in which Prince Harry was one of four claimants, along with two performers from the venerable television serial opera “Coronation Street.” These people charged Mirror with breaking into people’s phones and employing private detectives to obtain personal data without authorization.

While the judge found that the privacy of all four claimants had been violated, he dismissed cases brought by actor Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman due to their late filing. Actor Michael Turner was awarded 31,000 pounds ($39,000).

Attorney David Sherborne argued that the case was “overwhelmingly successful,” justifying reimbursement of legal fees, as Mirror had put forth a “fundamentally dishonest case.” Mirror Group’s attorney, Roger Mallalieu, contended that they should only pay fees for the unsuccessful portions of the claims.

Justice Timothy Fancourt is expected to rule on this matter at a later date.

The legal fees sought primarily pertain to the broader claim against Mirror by all claimants and do not include the costs associated with preparing and presenting Prince Harry’s specific cases, as these have not been fully resolved.

Fancourt found that Mirror engaged in unlawful information gathering in 15 of the 33 newspaper articles about Prince Harry examined during the trial. Those were chosen as a sampling that is representative of the almost 150 publications that he claimed violated his privacy. Attorney Sherborne has requested a trial for the remaining 115 articles. Mirror has made Prince Harry aware of a settlement offer for these allegations

After these disputes are settled, Prince Harry might seek more legal fees. Phone hacking by British newspapers has a history spanning over two decades, with the scandal reaching its peak in 2011 when Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World was exposed for intercepting messages from various individuals, leading to the paper’s closure. Mirror Group Newspapers has defended the use of lawful journalistic techniques and maintained its innocence in Prince Harry’s case in the face of multiple phone hacking claims.

The legal fees sought primarily pertain to the broader claim against Mirror by all claimants and do not include the costs associated with preparing and presenting Prince Harry’s specific cases, as these have not been fully resolved.