Prince Harry, Elton John and other claimants face a multi-million-dollar legal bill after losing their privacy case against a newspaper publisher.
In a judgment issued on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin ordered the seven high-profile claimants to make an interim payment of $13 million (£9.54 million) towards the legal costs incurred by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, in defending the case.
The group – which also includes Elizabeth Hurley and John’s husband David Furnish – must pay the initial figure by 4pm on 28 August.
The claimants had sued ANL for alleged unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking, and after a trial, Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims on 7 July.
In his judgment on Friday, he ruled that the outstanding amount should be paid on an “indemnity basis”, meaning that Prince Harry and co. must pay towards ANL’s legal costs without the publisher needing to prove the sum was reasonable.
Nicklin ruled that the group’s claims rested ?on “speculative ?and inferential” foundations and their conduct “was unreasonable to a high degree”.
At a hearing last month, ANL’s representatives alleged they had incurred a legal bill ?of $47 million (£34.5 million), while the claimants only had an ?insurance policy ?which covered just over $22 million (£16 million).
In his ruling, Justice Nicklin noted that ANL’s costs were “excessive”, hinting that the group may not have to pay the full amount.
“I regard a claim for costs in excess of £34 million as, on its face, excessive and as giving rise to real concerns as to whether all of the costs now claimed by Associated were reasonably incurred and are reasonable in amount,” he wrote, according to BBC News.
The claimants – who also include actress Sadie Frost, politician Sir Simon Hughes and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence – have until 2 October to appeal.
ANL’s reps said in a statement on Friday that the ruling was “a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives”.
The decision comes days after it was revealed that Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet are moving back to the U.K. later this month after six years in California.
