Duke of Sussex & Others vs ANL: thread 5

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This is the fifth thread discussing the case Prince Harry (and 6 others) brought against the Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers Limited; ANL) for alleged unlawful information gathering (UIG).
The claimants were: Prince Harry (PH); Doreen Lawrence (DL); Liz Hurley (EH/LH); Elton John (EJ); David Furnish (DF); Simon Hughes (SH); Sadie Frost (SF). They were represented by David Sherborne (DS).
The defendant (ANL) was represented by Anthony White (AMW).

Judgement was handed down by Judge Nicklin on 7th July 2026.
All claims were dismissed.
Links to the summary and full judgement are below.
We are currently awaiting decisions around costs, with the next hearing due on 29-30th July.

The threads to date were thorough discussions of the evidence (so far as we were able to obtain it), with posters giving links and explaining their views.
Following the judgement, we discussed the judgement itself, the reaction, statements made by different parties and ongoing relevant issues.

We have mostly kept things civil by avoiding more general discussion on Royal Family members, which can become partisan, and trying not to be derailed from the main topic of the thread.

We have occasionally included (when things slowed with the title case) other cases or discussions with a specific theme of free speech/press freedom, particularly when related to those with money or power preventing others from speaking.

Links to previous threads
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4

There was limited direct reporting from court after the celebrities gave evidence; what there we followed on this link
Sky news link to court case

Summary judgement

Full judgement

ANL obviously want the higher costs paid! That was what they argued in court. It’s no longer “if”. They do. It’s up to the judge to agree with that or the claimants position. It’s a court decision now and up to the claimants how they pay.

On the one hand I agree he's not a charity for failed co-plaintiffs. On the other, despite it all, I feel a bit off about allowing people to go bust nd lose their homes purely to make a point if he'd be paying for almost all of it anyway, as he would have known he might

But wasn't it the claimants who were originally trying to "make a point" by suing ANL in the first place, @ThatCyanCat?

As so many have said this is the risk in bringing something to court; people lose and saddle themselves with ruinous costs all the time, and I'm not sure these somehow deserve sympathy just because they're bigger names - and especially not when they insisted on going ahead with a case so full of holes

especially not when they insisted on going ahead with a case so full of holes

And remembering one was offered a get out of jail free card and not only chose not to use it but also chose to try to lever the offer.

If I understand it correctly, joint and severally liable means that they are all responsible for their share but if anyone can't pay, those who can could be pursued for what is owed.

Technically, it means any one of them is legally liable for the full amount.

Practically, it means that ANL can pursue the one with most assets for the full amount if they wish, who could then later seek to recover some of that amount from co-claimants.
ANL could, of course, make different decisions - but presumably they do want their money back.

Agree, with the proviso that ANL can pursue payment as above.

Edit to add: When I'm talking about 'pursuing payment' I mean should the claimants prove reluctant to pay - which given their history throughout this litigation is possible.

Yes but to me, that's a separate issue.

If it should happen that EJ ends up paying close to 100% of those people's costs anyway, and he can easily absorb the whole lot (which doesn't mean he should but it's part of the context), I'm not sure how good it would look to have them lose their homes and go bankrupt just to pay what would, in the grand scheme, be a token amount and absolute peanuts to EJ.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Oh I can be very creative, I tell them we live not far from Sandringham and like to go there, it leaves them thinking that we go though the front door, rather just park in the public car parks and use the loos and cafe!

I doubt ANL would want to be seen bankrupting people, far better to.pursue EJ for the money and let him decide whether he wants to bankrupt his pals-in-law.

ANL could get their revenue back via click bait articles by asking the Duchess of Sussex to be their new Agony Aunt

Isn’t this how it works: The claimants will be asked to pay the amount decided by the judge by a certain date. They will then pay this - deciding amongst themselves how this is split*. At that point, no one is forced to sell their home or go bankrupt. They just pay want they want. IF this results in a shortfall, then ANL will go after 1 or more of them for the shortfall. At that point ANL cld force someone into bankruptcy to pay. As this wld be expensive, unlikely to result in full payment and bad publicity, it’s much more likely that they will simply write nicely to EJ and he will have to pay. He can’t refuse wrt joint costs. Given that’s where it will eventually go, it may be that he just pays straight away. I don’t think Harry will ever be forced to pay. He lives in the US and has no property/assets here (that we know about) so it wld be tricky and £, for ANL take action against him. Much easier to take action against EJ as he has property here.

(* some from the insurance company)

More or less @Escapefrom1984.

Slightly complicated by
(a) all the claimants will have individual costs to pay ANL, so that summary applies to common costs only
and
(b) it is possible that Judge Nicklin will make a judgement re costs (indemnity or not) and decide an interim payment, and a decision about the rest of the payment will be made later by a specialist costs judge.
That was the view of a retired costs judge who was discussing this in the Times in an article on 10th July (referenced upthread).

Colin Campbell, a former costs judge who sat in the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, said that given the damning nature of the judgment, it was likely that the publisher would succeed with the indemnity order. ...

Nicklin will hear evidence from both sides for two days from July 29, and is likely to make a decision at the end of the hearing, Campbell said.
“He will most likely ask for 60 per cent of the pre-budget costs, then about 90 per cent of the costs going forward because they have been scrutinised by the court,” Campbell added. “So from my rough calculations that means there will be a payment on account of about £10 million, that is due within 14 days of the decision.”
This amount will be transferred directly to Associated, either by the insurance firm or the claimants.
If the litigants are unable to pay, then insolvency proceedings could be initiated against them — all while the costs are accruing interest of 8 per cent.
“If some of the claimants, such as Lawrence, say they don’t have the money and are unable to pay, then the publisher can look to the wealthiest members of the group and pursue them for Lawrence’s share,” Campbell said.
“And if they can’t pay then in theory they can enforce the order through insolvency proceedings, such as bankruptcy, charging orders on houses and things like this.
“But I can’t expect that will happen here — we are talking about the Duke of Sussex and Elton John, of course.”
The rest of the costs will be dealt with in a year or so by a specialist costs judge, Campbell said.

They can't refuse to pay as the costs are court ordered. Refusal to pay=bailiffs at the door. No need to take anyone to court as that has already happened and they lost.
ANL will apply to USA court for bailiffs for harry, he won't be the first person to have his house/assets seized.
They not only lost, they lost big and were warned by the judge on several occasions about the costs, they went ahead regardless. The case was so poor it should never have gone to court.

If we ever get to hear about it, it's the "deciding amongst themselves how this is split" I'm loooking forward to, @Escapefrom1984

After his statement I'd lay good money that Harry won't expect to pay anything, including to Doreen
Doreen herself may try for public sympathy again, hoping few will know about her behaviour around this
And the rest might even claim they can't afford it, leaving Elton to throw another hissy fit if he has to stump up

I’m afraid you are going to be right puzzled! , has Harry even paid his security case costs yet??
normaly I would not be sympathetic towards Elton John , but if this happens it would be unfair, particularly as he (at his age and health issues) has just come out of retirement to pay off his bill!

I can't see any reason why EJ should pay for Harry. Not only has he got significant assets (and let's face it, despite claims of impending poverty, he still seems to have enough spare cash to jet around the world at whim and spend money on celeb friendly restaurants and expensive hotels). But he also seems to have lied in court and then went on to effectively accuse the judge of being corrupt after the verdict.

So I hope EJ tells him where to go if H asks him to pay for him. It's about time he faced some consequences for his atrocious behaviour

I also hope that if necessary, ANL pursue him through every legal avenue available to them until he's paid what he owes

100% my feeling too. Let's see Hazza paying up and facing the consequences of his lies, for a change.

has Harry even paid his security case costs yet??

I don't know, @jeffgoldblum - I don't even know if such things are made public - but I'd be amazed if any of this ends up coming out of his own pocket

Ok, I can accept that some can't pay and EJ might decide it is better optics to help them out.

I can not believe he will think Harry doesn't have enough money, or be willing to help him out.

I don’t know either @Puzzledandpissedoff, but for some reason ( that is probably wrong) I was under the impression that these things were not kept secret?
im also suspicious when it goes terribly quiet and convenient distractions suddenly appear!

I would actually pay to read that.

But as I see it, Harry/EJ are not the ones deciding who has to pay - all the claimants are in it together, jointly and severally. Their insurance is probably sufficient to pay their individual costs, but not the total overall costs.

The money will be owed to ANL not to the court, it isn’t like a fine where non-payment will get the court bailiffs calling @binkie163

ANL will be the ones looking to enforce the debt. They will go after the claimant most able to pay which is EJ. Going after Harry in the US will be too much hassle when they have EJ here and legally on the hook to pay. Harry cld pay his fair share to keep EJ sweet, but he doesn’t have a track record of paying for things himself.

The only way I see Harry paying anything is if the judge orders it but why would he do that? I suppose the claimants cld have made a binding agreement amongst themselves on how much they wld each pay if they lost, but I think they expected the insurance to cover that so I doubt they made a further agreement.

Who knows? But I think ANL are in the driving seat here.

With regard to the joint costs, several of the claimants might not be able to afford to prevent DL going bankrupt. But Harry probably can and possibly should after he dragged her into the case and then released that joint statement after the verdict. Elton also could.

If Elton has to step in to prevent DL going bankrupt after Harry (and the rest) couldn’t / wouldn’t help I expect all manner of leaks regarding the behind the scenes conversations between the claimants and how honourable Elton is being. He will want some good publicity for the extra £££ he is paying up. But I don’t think for a second he will pay for Harry’s costs while Harry sits in a Montecito mansion. And I doubt Harry will want the bad publicity of hoping someone else will pay his legal costs.

I predict Harry and Meghan will never see the inside of Elton’s South of France villa again. Another A list connection scorched.

I predict Harry and Meghan will never see the inside of Elton’s South of France villa again. Another A list connection scorched.

Yup. Bye bye Elton's private jet too.

I don't see why EJ would blame them? He brought the case as much as Harry did, and didn't he introduce Harry and Sherborne to each other?

I think people are saying that EJ will cut any ties with Harry if Harry doesn't step up and pay his share, but leaves it all to him.