Harry’s litigation

[smilesy]

Harry has been mostly denied permission to increase the scope of his case against NGN. The judge has, quite rightly, allowed him to include new allegations of phone tapping and other accusations against private investigators and journalists. What he has not allowed is Harry to extend the timeline to include allegations around Diana or Meghan when she was his girlfriend. The judge also made disparaging remarks about Harry’s lawyers adding more and more detail, and going for “trophy targets”

Is Harry losing sight of what legal action should be for and becoming vexatious?

I think so too. Maybe Sherborne’s costs and other expenses, so Harry was put back in the place he started from; plus maybe ‘a couple of bob for his trouble’ for a nice night out with the missus.

Neither am I. Especially because it was Harry who approached NGN just before start of trial to ask about settling. NGN wanted to settle (as always) but were prepared for court. IMO that means the offer won't have been much more than what was already on the table. So a bit more than Hugh Grant's, but obviously within what they were comfortable paying.

Thoughts...
Would sticking to his guns and pushing for court, would this have overshadowed, With Love Meghan? Which would be airing all at the same time?

It wouldn’t surprise me if he had to settle for LESS than had previously been on the table.

I agree.

Sherborne is estimated to charge between £500-£1000 per hour then there's the cost of the rest of the legal team. All of them must have spent many hours on the case.

Wouldn't surprise me to discover the 'apology' was insisted on as a key part of the deal and the price for it was a reduction in cash offer.

I don't think there will be much if anything left over.

I agree as well. I suspect the apology (eg. Allowing him to claim a victory and save face for settling) was the key decider here.

I saw in the Washington post that the source who said the settlement was 8 figures came from PH's side, so clearly an interest in bigging it up.

I think it could have been 10 mill, but by the time he's paid his lawyers - and maybe paid tax on it? There will be little left over, if anything. Perhaps a couple of million, which of course is mega for anyone else but only enough to support Harry's lifestyle for a couple of months really.

I note there's been no bluster and PR about donating it to charity - I guess Harry will be hoping everyone has forgotten how he tore his brother apart for accepting a settlement which was donated to charity in full, when he has no intention of doing the same.

Wouldnt his costs be paid for by NGN?

And Harry's legal bills will presumably have been higher than Grant's too, as Grant settled almost a year ago.

I agree with others that the fulsome apology, even if it does not admit to liability, may also have been negotiated for some reduction in the settlement amount. It seems to have been very important for Harry to get this, as it allows him to claim vindication. We all saw Sherborne grandstanding on the court steps as though a great legal victory had been win, when nothing of the sort happened.

Why?

Legal bills are usually only paid by the losing party in a court case, but here there was no court case to lose. The parties settled out of court.

IcedPurple is right. When you settle a case there is no order from the Court about costs and each party is responsible for paying their own.

It’s not uncommon however for a settlement payment to include money that is notionally a contribution to the other side’s costs. How much a defendant might offer for this will vary massively depending on the case. Both parties’ assessments of their prospects of success will be a factor in that. (E.g if you are a defendant and have a very strong defence you’ll be less likely to up your settlement offer to include a sum for costs, and the reverse is also true).

The wording of the apology was important so Harry could say he had ‘won’ something, though it didn’t admit to anything that had not already been admitted. However the apology itself makes me even more suspicious that he wouldn’t have walked away with much, if any, money after paying his lawyers. £10 million is a huge amount of money for the courts to award for injury to feelings, even where sustained. It was very likely Harry would have been awarded less than what was offered and would have had to pay NGNs costs.

Im shocked he hasnt made his OWN statement aside of his barristers

Yes that is very surprising.

I said elsewhere, he probably hasn’t managed to get out of bed yet 😆

Surely the statement read by the barrister was Harry's ... Sherbourne said "I have been asked to read this"

Meghan is still working on it because it will involve a LOT of words (🥗)

Maybe he is laying low in the current situation? He might feel obliged to donate it to the LA fires?

I don't think looking at the broader picture would occur to Harry. In any case, he could say he's 'making a generous donation' without saying how much it is.

I'm also not sure there'll be a whole lot left to donate after paying Sherborne's hairdresser's bill.

I see the court has placed limits on how much he is allowed to spend in his mirror group case - £4m. Not sure if each or for all claimants. Also not clear if he can go over but can’t claim more that in costs from the other side or if in contempt of court if he does.

Interesting, where did you see that?

I'd have thought it would be the latter, as difficult I'd have thought to set a cap on lawyers fees - if they work more than the cap are they just supposed to stop charging? Or stop all work when they reach the cap?

I'd have thought it's more likely that it would be a cap in costs that could be claimed... but to be fair I have no idea.

It was a different article but also here:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/prince-harrys-next-war-media-111252635.html

I like the look of Judge Cook's jib 😁

CUT - I meant cut of his jib 😂

I thought your previous post was some sort of euphemism 😆

Ohhh. That's interesting.

What's the betting he's already at or over the limit?

Call him a vexatious, grandstanding litigant without actually saying...