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The royal family

Harry v. NGN

1000 replies

Atlasvue · 19/01/2025 10:02

Starting a thread for Tuesday.
This BBC article covers the basics. This is the last line ….
Tuesday really is the beginning of the end. And someone is going to lose - and lose big.

I have a feeling, that Harry won’t win but he just wants to use the public setting to air his grievances. A therapy session would have worked out much cheaper.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2l00xkgwnyo

Prince Harry leaves the court during his hacking case against the Daily Mirror. He wears a dark coloured suit, white shirt and tie. His barrister David Sherborne, also dressed in a dark suit is on his left.  A crowd of photographers are behind a metal...

Prince Harry versus newspapers: This is the one that matters

Prince Harry’s legal battle against British tabloids for allegedly unlawfully intruding into his life reaches its most important moment on Tuesday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2l00xkgwnyo

OP posts:
Thread gallery
25
Serenster · 22/01/2025 18:44

Partybagprick · 22/01/2025 18:41

@Delphigirl said " [NGN] ....appears to have agreed to strip the Sun website of all the lying and bullying articles they have written about Meghan over the years which have now vanished..."

That's interesting. So far from seeing it through in order to get justice for other hacking victims, he's done a deal on a non hacking matter to benefit his wife. Wasn't he accusing William of doing some sort of "secret" mutually beneficial deal with NGN when he settled? Doesn't that make Harry a bif hypocrite for doing the same?

Well, I don’t know if this is true. I just did a search for “Meghan and Sussex” on the Sun’s website and 814 pages of results came back…

WatchOutMissMarpleIsAbout · 22/01/2025 18:47

Atlasvue · 22/01/2025 18:40

Look at my BBC quote

And at my screen shots. I’m sure this will be analysed for a while but imo it’s not a win for either side. The only winners will be the lawyers - I used to have my head in my hands with some clients!

MrsLeonFarrell · 22/01/2025 18:47

Serenster · 22/01/2025 18:44

Well, I don’t know if this is true. I just did a search for “Meghan and Sussex” on the Sun’s website and 814 pages of results came back…

I've just done the same!

I didn't go back very far but there were several articles that weren't ringing endorsements of Meghan

Partybagprick · 22/01/2025 18:48

Serenster · 22/01/2025 18:44

Well, I don’t know if this is true. I just did a search for “Meghan and Sussex” on the Sun’s website and 814 pages of results came back…

Well clearly @Delphigirl has some especial insight into the terms of the agreement as per her post, so hopefully she will come back and provide some clarity. Either that or, contrary to the constant bleating of the Sussexes and their supporters, there are at least 814 pages of positive stories about them that have not been wiped out in this alleged settlement deal.

WatchOutMissMarpleIsAbout · 22/01/2025 18:49

I actually wished Harry had the guts to do what he said and go all the way to prove in a civil court the corruption at the heart of the Murdoch empire. The saying is things come from the top.

Partybagprick · 22/01/2025 18:52

I'll tell you who has the guts to go all the way and who has lost his entire fortune in doing so: the author and journalist, Andrew Lownie, who took on the government in FOI cases relating to Lord Mountbatten records (and allegations against him of child abuse). Ironically, he's the one trying to expose the murky world of Andrew and Fergie. But this forelock tugging royalist admires him immensely.

sleepwouldbenice · 22/01/2025 18:54

IcedPurple · 19/01/2025 22:26

He didn't 'want his day in court' enough to take the financial hit though, did he?

Anyway, like the vast majority of people, I really don't care about Hugh Grant or Harry's phones being hacked decades ago.

And 'these people' aren't going to be 'humiliated'. This is all ancient history and they've already paid out hundreds of millions.

I thought you didn't care? Yet you're still going all these posts later

Partybagprick · 22/01/2025 18:54

MrsLeonFarrell · 22/01/2025 18:47

I've just done the same!

I didn't go back very far but there were several articles that weren't ringing endorsements of Meghan

Oh well, maybe someone's been sniffing Sherborne's hair mousse.

sleepwouldbenice · 22/01/2025 18:56

Atlasvue · 20/01/2025 17:07

The poster isn’t on her own, many people think the same. Myself included.

The public doesn’t care at all about celebrities phones being hacked. The lawyers representing them know that too, hence why figures such as Doreen Lawrence were approached, to gain the publics interest and sympathy.

Given the number of posts, seems like lots of people care

Puzzledandpissedoff · 22/01/2025 18:57

[NGN] ....appears to have agreed to strip the Sun website of all the lying and bullying articles they have written about Meghan over the years which have now vanished..."

In another first I've just gone onto the Sun's website @Delphigirl , and there are countless waspish artciles about Meghan still on there

Just some headings are "Irrelevant Meg", "Unfortunate Meg's authenticity is issue", "Her dated rich lifestyle porn is confounding" and "Out of touch" - and that's just from the first couple of pages, because I can't bear to read any more

Not sure where that leaves the thing about Harry cutting a deal to have the "lying and bullying" articles removed?

PrincessofWells · 22/01/2025 18:58

Atlasvue · 22/01/2025 09:35

He’s made himself look like a fool, he could have settled months ago but no- he literally went on stage to say he is fighting for what is right, wants his day in court and is representing all those people who can’t. He was well aware at this point of the cost implications.

Now he’s taking the sweaty cash and is doing more LA fires PR to try and distract from wasting courts time and showing people for the hypocrite he is.

You don't understand how this works. It's a game of bluff and Harry has well and truly won what I'm sure is a huge settlement - much more by taking it up to the wire.

Sunholidays · 22/01/2025 19:03

MrsLeonFarrell · 22/01/2025 18:29

The article has a lovely photo of the person who absolutely did win - David Sherborne.

He gets 7 million apparently. The real winner IMO. He won the lottery when he met Harry!

kirinm · 22/01/2025 19:05

@mainecooncatonahottinroof

The word 'settlement' is a term used when a matter settles / the dispute is resolved. A matter doesn't have to go to trial to succeed.

Plenty of cases are settled by defendants (and claimants) where one party very clear 'wins'. A defendant paying damages, costs and issuing an apology is more likely than not, a win.

What do you see as a win?

Partybagprick · 22/01/2025 19:05

PrincessofWells · 22/01/2025 18:58

You don't understand how this works. It's a game of bluff and Harry has well and truly won what I'm sure is a huge settlement - much more by taking it up to the wire.

You clearly don't understand how many hours of work and legal costs are clocked up in the approach to a 10 week trial. These have to be offset against your settlement (which I would have thought includes a costs settlement). As nobody knows what sums are involved, there's every chance he's worse off than he would have been had he settled earlier, simply because his legal fees are much higher.

BreadInCaptivity · 22/01/2025 19:06

In considering who "won" my perspective is based on the stated intentions of both parties in respect of what "winning" looked like.

NGN have been open about wanting to settle (as they have done with multiple other claimants. They got a settlement.

It may have cost them more than they wanted to pay at the outset, but at some point they have arrived at a figure that bought them the outcome they wanted.

Harry wanted his day in court and prove corporate complicity (as opposed to the blend being confined to "rogue" Private Investigators).

He did not get either of these things. He did however get what will be a very substantial pay off, though how much of that is left after he's paid his costs is unknown.

So on balance I think it's a win for NGN.

That's not to say I think Harry was wrong to settle (the system is designed to promote this outcome). I also believe he was (like others impacted) entitled to be compensated.

What's unclear is why Harry settled now and not previously when even earlier this year he was still being very vocal about seeing this through.

He MUST have been aware about the financial risk he was taking because he referred to it himself in being a champion for those who could not afford to do so.

So I can only conclude that either his financial position has changed, meaning he is not in a position to take risks he previously felt comfortable doing or in the end NGN made him an offer that he was prepared to forgo his principles to collect. Or possibly a combination of both.

Either way he's the one that ultimately folded here based upon his stated intentions and dare I say it, the somewhat sneering manner in which he referred his brother's settlement does not reflect well on him now he is in the same boat.

Serenster · 22/01/2025 19:06

What do you see as a win?

It depends on what my client sees as a win. Harry told us all openly what he was looking for out of this trial: accountability for MGN’s senior executives. He didn’t get that.

IcedPurple · 22/01/2025 19:11

PrincessofWells · 22/01/2025 18:58

You don't understand how this works. It's a game of bluff and Harry has well and truly won what I'm sure is a huge settlement - much more by taking it up to the wire.

And of course, by 'taking it up to the wire', the dragon slayer was happy to continue to burden the court system and cost the taxpayer in pursuit of his accountability, 'huge settlement'.

NotaRealHousewife · 22/01/2025 19:11

Oh I thought he was the last person who could achieve a courtroom showdown with the news paper group ?

mainecooncatonahottinroof · 22/01/2025 19:11

Janiie · 22/01/2025 18:39

'Harry is the winner. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool or a murdoch apologist'

Harry settled. He was all hot air about accountability not money. I'm neither a fool nor a murdoch apologist.

Same! There are a lot of fools out there who don't understand the nature of a settlement!

Clearly NGN had much more to lose to concede to the degree they did, but they will still be heaving huge sighs of relief tonight!

kirinm · 22/01/2025 19:12

@CC49 saying that the costs will come out of the settlement could indicate that costs were agreed as part of the settlement rather than just damages i.e. costs inclusive. The alternative is to have the court assess costs if the parties can't agree them.

I haven't opened the link but I wouldn't be surprised if the daily mail is implying that he has to pay costs from the damages that were agreed.

Obviously I could be entirely wrong since the settlement is presumably confidential.

jeffgoldblum · 22/01/2025 19:12

I'm terribly disappointed we didn't get to see Harry on the stand !
It would have been great .

Atlasvue · 22/01/2025 19:12

PrincessofWells · 22/01/2025 18:58

You don't understand how this works. It's a game of bluff and Harry has well and truly won what I'm sure is a huge settlement - much more by taking it up to the wire.

I’m very clear how it works. What he said in the past was lies- he had no intention of fighting the ‘good fight’ and just wanted money. He’s made an absolute spectacle of himself…for a few extra dollars.

OP posts:
kirinm · 22/01/2025 19:14

Serenster · 22/01/2025 19:06

What do you see as a win?

It depends on what my client sees as a win. Harry told us all openly what he was looking for out of this trial: accountability for MGN’s senior executives. He didn’t get that.

Okay sure.

QuimCarrey · 22/01/2025 19:14

Harry’s decision to accept the settlement may have robbed the prurient of the chance to see him take his stand in this case

I feel acknowledged.

mainecooncatonahottinroof · 22/01/2025 19:14

sleepwouldbenice · 22/01/2025 18:54

I thought you didn't care? Yet you're still going all these posts later

I rather think you completely misunderstood the post!

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