Prince Harry seeks appeal after losing privacy case against Daily Mail publisher
Prince Harry is not giving up on his legal fight with the publisher of the Daily Mail, despite losing his High Court case in July and being hit with a multimillion-pound legal bill.
On Friday, the Duke of Sussex and five other high-profile claimants filed applications asking the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge the ruling, BBC News reported. The group includes Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and campaigner Baroness Lawrence.
What the court decided
The claimants had accused Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, of unlawful information gathering. ANL strongly denied the allegations. After an 11-week trial in London, Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed all of the claims, ruling that they had failed to prove their case.
Harry gave evidence in person during the trial and argued that details in 14 articles about him “plainly” showed journalists had been listening to his phone calls. The judge found he had not proved that. Lawyers for the publisher told the court its reporters had relied on legitimate sources, including friends and “leaky” social circles around the people they wrote about.
ANL called the result an “overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists”.
A costly defeat
In August, the judge ruled that this was a rare case in which the losing side should pay costs on a higher “indemnity” basis. The claimants face joint legal costs of up to £34.5m and were ordered to make an initial payment of £9.54m while the final amount is calculated.
The appeal application covers both the dismissal of the claims and that costs order. A joint spokesperson said: “The claimants respectfully disagree with those unprecedented decisions, which they consider to be legally and factually flawed.”
The statement did not mention Liberal Democrat politician Sir Simon Hughes, who was also part of the case. The BBC said it had asked him whether he would join the appeal. After the costs ruling, he said he was “disappointed” and would take time to consider his options.
What happens next
Filing an application does not mean an appeal will go ahead. The Court of Appeal must first decide whether to grant permission, and has not yet done so, The Guardian reported. People also covered the move.
For Harry, who has made challenging the British tabloid press a central cause, the decision to fight on shows the case is far from closed in his eyes — even if the costs keep rising.
