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

Or maybe this is his way of trying to bury the VF article and make it tomorrow's chipper paper. 😉

Or he was relying on Meghan making lots of money but now that’s not looking very likely.

NGN choosing their moment to make an irresistible offer to a newly vulnerable litigant?

I really will judge him if he settles, after all the sanctimonious preaching about how he will never settle and he wants accountability. So hypocritical.

Murdoch doesn’t own Vanity Fair, does he?

I won't judge him for settling, that's what he should be doing. I do judge him for letting this farce drag on so long and wasting the courts and everyone's time. I also judge him wittering on about dragon slaying and being a hypocrite - didn't he make some bitchy comment about his brother settling?

After the VF article, I think this probably will true.

Harry really is such a tool. The dragon slayer who didn't slay because he was fast asleep 😂

Does Lord Watson have a messiah complex too?

No idea.

However PH (actual words from his own mouth) stated to Sorkin last month that he was persuing this case on behalf of the other claimants (who have already settled) - which to me sounds grandiose and delusional as not aware of anyone asking him to 'save them' via this court case.

David Sherborne is representing both Harry and Tom Watson, I believe.

The Independent is reporting too.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prince-harry-the-sun-rupert-murdoch-high-court-settle-b2683599.html

Just FYI, in case this has not already been explained, but it is customary to pay barristers what is called a “Brief Fee” for the work involved in preparing for a trial. It covers all the preparation for, and the first day of the hearing. The barrister will then charge a “refresher” for tranches of time after that.

For a trial of a week or less, a refresher will normally be a daily rate. For a longer trial like this one (many weeks, lots of witnesses) each refresher will likely cover a longer period - eg a week.

So, to take an example, imagine the brief fee for Harry’s lead barrister is £750,000, with a weekly refresher of £250,000. It is very much in Harry’s interests then for the first day not to commence today if a settlement is on the cards, as if it does commence today then tomorrow he’s on the hook to pay another £250,000 when they turn up to court.

An unexpected application to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the High Court judge’s order refusing a short delay will take a few hours only to prepare and argue and will be charged on a hourly rate basis. So it’s a much more cost effective way of protecting your clients costs exposure if a settlement is likely.

(it’s all about the tactics in litigation…)

I hope if they reach a settlement they will have to pay costs for the extra time they have taken although any settlement might pay for that and not reaching it before now But a fine for wasting court time I think is appropriate for all parties , but I don't know what the judge can actually say about this.

Part 36 offers also have an impact on costs. If Harry has been made another such offer, and accepts it, he’ll be liable to pay something towards MG’s costs up to the date of acceptance. So the amount of legal fees they are on the hook for will also matter in those deliberations.

I do think H should be on the hook for some costs here - and a reprimand for wasting court time. Don't know enough about Tom Watson to why he is pursuing this.

Barista Dave won’t mind. He’s quids in whatever the outcome.

Does anyone have any idea how big a settlement offer could potentially be? I realise this is how long is a piece of string, but I assume NGN would not offer more in settlement than they could conceivably assume the judge might award in damages at the very top end - on the basis that provided they top that, then Harry would be liable for all their costs.

Would the judge award higher damages to Harry because he's a high profile celebrity than would be awarded to an average Joe Bloggs? I don't really know how this works, but would be very interested to hear from anyone with insight.

I do think Harry would be an unbelievable hypocrite if he settles after all his bluff and swagger about accountability and slaying dragons (but par for the course for him). But I also wonder if recent events have weakened his resolve - the dire publicity they've both had and the awful reception towards 'With love' might have suddenly opened his eyes that the gravy train is drying up and cold hard cash is more useful for paying the bills than the satisfaction of victory.

I cannot think what he could say to avoid looking a massive hypocrite if he accepts a settlement without his day in court .

Well there are two claimants, so it's possible that only one will accept.

Nothing is really known about the depth of Lord Watson's pockets nor the likelihood of him accepting a settlement.

So (speculation alert), it's possible that as he turned up at the court this morning, he might have been taking advice and then accepted the offer. Which would mean that the court case would be shortened whatever Harry decided, and possibly abandoned completely if Harry settled too (so worth trying to get an answer before the hearing proper starts)

But IANAL - what happens next if only one claimant accepts a revised offer?

Money aside, and I don’t doubt eye watering sums are on the table, I think it will come down to Harry wanting them to admit liability, which they won’t do. Or issue a mea culpa. Which they won’t.
Either way NGN win. They loose in court but have generated a million clicks from Harry on the stand AND he has to pay their costs. This isn’t America, compensation awards are in the tens and hundreds not millions, I think it’s unlikely he, even if successful on every account could be awarded more than they have offered to settle.
Plus, if they loose it’s no damage to the brand. It’s widely known that there was questionable behaviour at a now closed title. The Mirror is a tabloid, hardly the epitome of print media.

Or, they win. He looks like a massive twat on the stand and still has to pay the financially crippling costs. Quotes are from the 5-10 million range sterling. Their house was brought for $14 million. The same as the upper limit of that quote. I don’t think anyone sane would think throwing away the price of the house they paid for is worth it for some imaginary crusade.

I think the fact that they been in negotiations for days already and still turned up at court today not having settled hints at the fact that Harry wants a LOT, probably more than Hugh Grant etc.

Harry is an unbelievable hypocrite.

I know Hugh Grant always talks about receiving a huge amount of money as a settlement, but does anyone know roughly how much that is?

Given he was facing a bill of £10 million even if he won, I don't blame him.

I doubt we will ever find out details just rumours, the biggest difference between Harry and Hugh is I can imagine Harry's legal bill being huge. Theyd want a settlement to cover that, but that is not a given. From the reports today it seemed all sides wanted to settle.

I'm immensely annoyed to think of weeks if not months of entertaining legalities circling the drain 😡

From 'last man standing' to Harold the dragon appeaser 🐲

Harry's supporters always refer disparagingly to William making a 'secret deal with Murdoch'. Wonder how this settlement will be spun?