PH litigation against Mirror group settled

[Mumsnut]

Lots more damages, and I think they have picked up his costs

Oh absolutely agree. Hacking is despicable, as is sharing anyones private information without their consent.

Harry proved the point he wanted to about the media. Quiet hush money isn't the same as a settlement following a trial.

At least Harry didn’t hack anyone’s phone!

Priceless!

The tabloid media in this country are scum The damage all of this phone hacking has done to many people is incalculable and they haven't really been punished. The News Of The World got shut down and pretty much started up again five minutes later as The Sunday Sun.
When Eric Clapton's little boy died a tabloid photographer hid in the freshly dug grave to take photos of the funeral.

I think phone hacking was appalling and I have zero time for idiot tat and tits 'newspapers' - however on a legal front, his 'evidence' ... or lack thereof... was as empty as a hot air balloon - he must have been extremely lucky somehow!!

@FloofCloud he won 15 out of 33(?) claims. So yes, there was a lot of him saying 'I believe this was hacked so it must be true', but on 15 occasions it does seem that there was no other realistic explanation.

Also for the other 18- it might not be that he wasn't hacked just that there wasn't enough proof to say he was. 🤷🏽‍♀️

This was a settlement following the first trial when H won 15 out of 33 claims. There were further trials to come so the other 115 claims could be considered. Having won some of his claims but lost others in the first trial this was a pragmatic solution for all parties.

I am glad H won some of his claims as I agree the press are awful and try to create conflict.

William chose an equally valid route of settling his claims. Many people choose this pragmatic approach. Sadly, as has been shown some of the other claimants who were party to the first trial and lost they may, with the benefit of hindsight, have been better to settle.

To say one approach is more valid than another is complex as you also need to consider the stress and the requirement to put information in the public domain.

From what I have read, some of those who won at this trial have ended up owing Mirror Group money.

If the defendant (Mirror in this case) makes a formal offer to settle, and the claimant (Harry and the others making accusations of hacking) turns it down, then if the amount of damages awarded is less than what was offered as a settlement the claimant has to pay the defendant's legal costs from the date of turning down the offer.

The judge ruled that a couple of Harry's co-claimants WERE hacked, but the damages awarded by the judge were less than the amount offered by the Mirror before the trial. So they are now liable for the Mirror's costs from that date - which is probably more than the amount the Mirror has to pay them in damages.

The point is to encourage settlement rather than going to court if at all possible - law should be a last resort (after all, it is expensive for all of us, the costs of the court system are paid by the tax payer!).

Settlement isn't some sort of selling out.

So Piers Morgan emerges unrepentant and seemingly clueless about the damage caused by hacking. He faces no consequences for lying in a government inquiry.

And some people are ready to turn a blind eye on all of that so long as he has a go at Harry. Right.

In Harry's case the amount awarded by the judge is more than was offered by Mirror Group, so he gets the damages and his legal costs.

Maybe suing people / media will be the way they make their money now they've vomited all their bile about the RF then 🤣
They'll need to take settlements though as I suspect the judges/courts have enough to do

Indeed. Plus he gave the money to Invictus, dreadful brother that he is.

Don't think Morgan has anything funny to say in relation to phone hacking.

Both were paid a sum of money by the newspaper because the newspaper knew they’d lose.

Harry just spent a lot of time, money (he won’t get back all of his out of pocket costs in his costs awards) and emotional energy to get to this point. This is why settling before trial, as William did, is generally recommended by lawyers.

Great, this is a great day to really show people what scum the news can be. Stop making it Harry vs William for once seriously why are we continuing to buy int o this narrative the media keep pushing of Harry bad evil person and William a saint. Just stop it.

I'm super glad he took it to court and really showed us all that the media need to do better and work to better standards. It's appalling they were hacking and piers Morgan is a part of it yet he still continues to sya the most horrendous things about people in public which let's other think it's perfectly.ok to be like that. It isn't. It's incredibly toxic

PM was sacked by the Daily Mirror in 2004 for printing fake pictures of British troops torturing Iraqi detainees. He is a complete fucking scumbag.
This is from the Colonel of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment at the time:
And today the regiment at the centre of the row stepped up the pressure on Morgan, directly appealing to his bosses at Trinity Mirror to influence the situation.
The top brass at the Queen's Lancashire Regiment launched a scathing attack, accusing him of playing an egotistical "Westminster game" that was endangering the lives of British troops.
"It is time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of a soldier," said Colonel David Black.

@Janiie
Do you think Millie Dowler's family think it's a laughing matter?

'I'm super glad he took it to court and really showed us all that the media need to do better and work to better standards.'

But they do, these were all historic claims?

They may be historical claims but Morgan and undoubtedly other editors, going by their current vendetta against Harry are only sorry they have been pulled up on their behaviour. They dont care really, about Millie Dowler, Doreen Lawrence or Harry.

I've been seeing on Twitter that he's been awarded 300k total.

He asked for 2M.

300k (if true) is a sizeable sum, but it's considerably less than William's alleged settlement of 1M (& less than Harry was previously offered, which was 500k I believe).

It's excellent that the tabloids are being held to account. I do feel sorry for those claimants who didn't settle when offered, but instead went to court and lost money (not to mention the emotional costs).

I can't remember where, but I read an interesting legal article about such cases. If it actually goes to trial, the loser has to pay the other side's costs.

This means that very few people can afford that kind of justice and so they settle out of court. I think there were a lot of people hoping PH was the one person who could afford not to settle.

I do of course completely understand why he has. He doesn't need cases dragging on any more than the next person, but I bet there are some other disappointed people tonight.

Every time there's a news item about Harry and a court case, am I right in thinking that the TV re-runs the one piece of footage that they have, of Harry getting out of a car and walking towards a door?

Not exactly, from what I understand (I'm not a lawyer - happy to be corrected!)

The defendant (accused) gets the chance to make formal offer of payment to settle through the court.

If the person complaining chooses to turn down that offer, then the amount offered is a benchmark for the judge's decision.

If the complainant wins they get awarded damages.

But if the damages awarded by the judge are less than the amount in the formal offer, the complainant has to pay the defendant's legal costs (on the grounds they should have accepted the defendant's offer and have wasted court time).

Which is why a couple of the people in the Mirror case with Harry look as if they will end up, owing Mirror Group even though they were found to have been hacked by Mirror.

The damages awarded by the judge are less than the offer they turned down from Mirror Group, so they are liable for the Mirror Group legal costs of going to court.

They will get the damages, but the legal costs are higher than the damages.