prince harry's Rupert Murdoch's lawsuit against a British tabloid publisher for allegedly collecting illegal information could go to trial next year, a British judge ruled on Friday.
In one of several lawsuits he has filed against British newspapers, Harry, 39, claims he was repeatedly targeted by journalists working for the newspaper and private investigators. Sun tabloid.
He is joining the lawsuit along with dozens of other plaintiffs.
Prince Harry settles lawsuit with Mirror Group Newspapers
Publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) has denied accusations of wrongdoing and asked London's High Court to postpone the trial, tentatively scheduled to begin next January.
It had hoped to hold a more scoped preliminary trial to determine whether the lawsuit was filed too late and beyond legal deadlines.
But in Friday's ruling, Judge Timothy Fancourt dismissed that claim.
He said there was “clearly a considerable risk” that a preliminary trial would “increase overall costs and delay a full trial by up to two years”.
“That is unsatisfactory,” the judge added.
hugh grant reconciliation
Comes 2 days after the actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against NGN over allegations of illegal intelligence gathering, saying it wanted to avoid legal claims that could amount to millions of pounds.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but Grant said on social media that she was offered a “huge sum of money” to avoid going to court.
NGN said the claim was resolved “without any admission of liability” and that “it is in the economic interests of both parties not to proceed to costly litigation.”
Prince Harry, the second son of Charles III, this year settled a long-running lawsuit against the Mirror Group of Newspapers (MGN), which journalists accused of engaging in deceptive and illegal methods including phone hacking. .
The prince is also suing Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Written by Garin Lambly ©Agence France-Presse
