Harry v. NGN

[Atlasvue]

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

Ah yes. The judge is frustrated they have not settled. Lots of speculation about £10m costs. So where’s Tom Watson getting the money from? Harry can use his mother’s money.

I’m guessing Toms case didn’t involve as much work as Harry’s. But he may also have ‘help’ from the others that have settled? Particularly if his costs aren’t too high.

Harry has zero clue about money. Imagine spaffing millions up the wall, just to try and make yourself look righteous.

@Atlasvue The down payment for another book?! How I won?

@Serenster - Thank you.

I think I'm right that Hugh Grant settled because he could have faced £10m costs. Not sure how much Hugh Grant is worth but it wouldn't surprise me if not short or indeed more than Harry' personal money - but I bet he isn't burning through it at the same rate - also his settlement I think was given to various relevant charities. If I'm wrong I'm wrong.

If I am honest I am less exercised about this court case than the RAVEC one , which I think I am more invested in given it will cost taxpayers' money which Harry seems happy to spend.

Hugh Grant has been a big name actor for 3 decades and he's a clever guy, so I'm sure he's invested his money wisely. There's also the money he'll have made from various cases against the papers! I suspect he is a lot richer than Harry.

I too am much more interested in the RAVEC case. Not that I think the outcome is in any doubt, as the current arrangements are more than fair and generous. But it will be interesting to see what sort of 'arguments' he comes up with and how the judge responds. Whereas we've seen these media cases many times before over the years.

It would likely be bullshit and half lies though ... then NGN would sue Netflix ... and lawyers get richer, everyone else gets poorer or fed up with H&M even more if that's possible

@IcedPurple you and me both then about RAVEC - how he has not seen that only the direct heirs get round the clock security and other members of the WRF get it when they are on RF / Govt business - well. It takes a special kind of person to have that level of self importance. I can't imagine Princess Anne whinging about this.

All court cases cost tax payers' money. The litigants in civil cases don't pay for the judges, the court staff salaries etc. We the taxpayer do. That's why the court system tries to weed out vexatious litigants who clog up time and resources with their plethora of pointless cases.

PH when interviewed by Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit last month claimed that he was doing this primarily for all those who settled..!! Not sure any of them required a White Knight or asked him to be one.

Grandiose.

Delusional.

Doing what? Their cases won't be litigated. They settled and were compensated. What's Harry's case going to prove for them other than he may or may not have been hacked? Does he think he's Jesus or something, dying to save us all?

Yep...messiah complex

Because William gets it so Harry should too ( in his mind)

I hope he does win, if he’s been illegally snooped on. That’s only fair.

Didn't Harry, or his lawyers, get reprimanded by the judge for trying to make this into some sort in inquest into media practices?

You should watch the tv series The Undoing.

Also he has a new movie out but it looks to creepy for me. He plays a very scary character by the looks of it.

I didn’t think he had much range either but his character in The Undoing totally undid my perception of his acting ability:

Does Lord Watson have a messiah complex too?

They both must have deep enough pockets to withstand the financial hit should they lose, or if they win but the amount they awarded is less than NGN offered in a settlement.

I don’t think Harry has a messiah complex . Although do we have any psychiatrists in here that know what a diagnosis of messiah complex requires?

I have wondered if he just felt so gaslight by the media he has the need, as many gaslight people do, to have it recognised by others that ‘ it wasn’t me it was them’. In my opinion in Harry’s case the tabloid media acted like abusive narcissists and Harry has been pushed into being always on the defensive. This is just my opinion. Other people opinions will differ but obviously none of us actually know.

I do wonder if Harry has a form of ADHD- perhaps he should be assessed. Everyone else appears to be being assessed these days .

You may be thinking about Justice Fancourt warning them it was not a trophy hunt (Rupert Murdoch being the trophy).

The mockery of this is that Harry has actually told the courts what he is doing and that's the privilege that he doesn't even know he has. To my knowledge Tom hasn't made any statements to the same effect and if he has then I'd include him too. This won't change the court process for anyone else who finds themselves in the realms of civil court. Where it's albout mediation and having to compromise even if completely in the right. The courts are to settle disputes, the rights and wrongs is just noise, that's how it is for the rest of us anyway.

Whatever his psychological needs, the civil court is not the place to do that.

They exist to return the claimants (usually by the payment of cold hard cash) to the state they were in before. Not to mend someone’s soul.

NGN have apologised unreservedly for the illegal activities as NOTW (and paid out millions) and have offered settlements to all claimants in this case, and all but two took them.

These two now have to demonstrate what took place (and remember that in MG case, fewer than half Harry’s examples were upheld) and then the court will rule and assess on level of damages.

Various statements from the judge already show that this case is pretty marginal (other posters have pointed out that it’s coded speech for quite a strong reprimand). I suspect a Pyrrhic victory, that will not bring him psychological closure and will leave him out of pocket.

I’m not familiar with the strength of the case of the other claimant.

I may have confused this with another of Harry's cases but some of his examples were based on what he called 'suspiciousness' and some had happened to other people, such as Chelsey.

And H himself at that conference in New York positioned the trial as a sort-of public inquest ( can't remember the actual phrase he used).

( Which NGN lawyers then alluded to in a pre-trial hearing.)
Fat finger edits

The BBC have a presence in court.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd9qqj3gvv1t

It's got off to a farcical start - or rather hasn't got off at all.

Start was delayed by an hour (?) then Lord Watson turned up in person (so assumed that was reason for delay)

Court resumed at 11;30, with David Sherbourne asking for a further delay until lunchtime (and NGN barrister endorsing this). The judge agreed:

“I am a little concerned about the timetable overall,” he says. “On the other hand an hour or two in the context of eight weeks is not significant.
“If the parties can assure me that time will be beneficial and will produce some outcome, then I am willing to provide some further time - but it has to be the last adjournment.”

So perhaps it will get going this afternoon

From Imogen James, BBC's live reporting team:

Mr Justice Fancourt has granted two delays to the hearing this morning.

We've been waiting since 10:30 GMT for things to start, but now it'll be 14:00.

The judge had repeatedly expressed his frustration, referring to the two sides as entrenched well-resourced armies refusing to give any ground to each other.
At a hearing in November, the judge said it was "unsatisfactory that so little progress has been made" and that there needs to be "further work done on both sides".

No doubt, this will add to his frustrations.

We are now pausing our coverage of the trial and will resume shortly before 14:00 GMT.