The website Byling Investigates was the outlet which broke the story about Prince Harry suing the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World. Even though Harry’s lawsuit seems like its own thing, Byline Investigates also seems to say that Harry’s lawsuit is part of a larger lawsuit with other victims of press interference and hacking. Harry’s lawsuit also involves so much stuff with his mother. You can read one of Byline Investigates’ exclusives here. As for how long all of this is going to take and what everything will look like, the Guardian had some additional info:
Prince Harry’s legal action against newspaper publishers over phone-hacking is likely to take a year to come to court, it has emerged, as pressure builds over the tabloids’ treatment of the royal family. His decision to join group litigation launched by others who have said they were victims of phone-hacking came shortly after his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, sued the publisher of the Mail on Sunday for disclosing a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.
In Harry’s lawsuit the publishers of the Mirror, Sun and now defunct News of the World are to face allegations in court that evidence of misconduct has been concealed and destroyed, according to members of Hacked Off, the campaign group that works closely with victims of what it terms “press abuse”. Such claims are being repeatedly raised in the phone-hacking cases currently before the courts. Senior executives of what was then News International were cleared in 2014 of perverting the course of justice.
News UK, publisher of the Sun, has confirmed that a claim has been issued against it by the prince. Reach Plc, which now owns the Daily Mirror, is also aware that proceedings have been issued. Hugh Tomlinson QC, chairman of Hacked Off, told the Guardian that the case illustrated the need to re-open the uncompleted Leveson inquiry.
“Prince Harry’s case reminds us of the scale of wrongdoing by certain newspapers which went on over many years,” Tomlinson said. “Hacked Off has long campaigned for part two of the Leveson inquiry to find out what actually happened. This reminds us of the need for that. It’s interesting that the action brought by the Duchess of Sussex reminds us that the press misconduct, which newspapers have said is a thing of the past, is still continuing. It emphasises the urgent need for an inquiry.”
Because there are so many claims against Newsgroup Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers the cases have been joined together and are being heard in regular batches. Most are settled out of court through payments; the prince’s claims are not expected to come to trial, if they reach court, until next October at the earliest.
Try as I might, I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand the extent to which the British press operates in the UK, nor will I truly understand how these lawsuits against the press work. I seem to remember that the Leveson Inquiry turned over a lot of rocks and found a lot of sh-t, and that everyone just worked overtime to make sure a lot of that sh-t was hushed up. It’s not that the press is all-powerful in Britain, it’s that everything is so interconnected and run by graft and favors and the “old boys’ club.” Ruper Murdoch’s press can make or break politicians, royals, celebrities, or at least that’s how it used to be. Anyway… is Harry’s lawsuit some separate thing? I’m trying to figure that out. The Guardian makes it sounds like he’s joining in an ongoing lawsuit and that he’s fine with it taking as long as it will take.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.
I think he’s joining an existing lawsuit; it sounds almost like a class action but not quite?
I do wonder why he is doing this now. I wonder if he has known for a while that he had a basis to sue (ie knew the media companies had hacked his phones) and just didn’t feel it was worth it to pursue in court, but now he’s like, “fine, you’re going to abuse my wife while she’s on maternity leave? Then we’ll see you in court.”
I honestly think it was her maternity leave that set him off. I’m sure the whole of the past year was upsetting to him, but seeing how the papers continued to attack her when she was at home with a newborn had to be really rough.
The FT had an article that timing for filing their claims could be due to a change in the courts which meant if they didn’t move fast, their claims could be heard by court division that is more sympathetic to publishers.
I’m intrigued by line in his statement that until now they haven’t been able to act& press knew it. The press has generally been foul except on the wedding weekend but after the pregnancy announcement it went into overdrive. Trolls also talked about wanting to trip her up on an engagement on SM.
Must have been painful to observe and so now Archie is here safely, time for a definitive pushback as the volume of stories means just getting a retraction isn’t enough to kill the narrative.
@Rogue – I saw that article too from FT on twitter but didn’t read the whole thing; I thought it was talking about the lawsuit re: the published letter though, and not the hacking? But if you’re right that would make sense then re: timing.
Believe that article said the date for the changeover was October 1, hence why they filed when they did.
@Becks1 I think you’re right.
I just hope Rebekah Brooks goes down after all this. It’s way overdue.
I think she just might go down as she is not as chummy with current UK PM as she was with Blair and Cameron. Blair actually advised her during her original trial.
Only problem I forsee is that Johnson is a former journo, so he may side and have sympathies with the hacks.
Th UK system is so strange to me. I cannot fathom Nancy Pelosi trying to influence the outcome of a Supreme Court Case, a court case in the SDNY or a court case in Miami-Dade County.
Rebekah Brooks AND Piss Moron…
I’ve read elsewhere there’s a change coming in which courts hear which type of cases. If they had waited to file or join this lawsuit, it might have headed to a more publisher-friendly court.
Wrong place
Crossposted with Rogue.
I wonder if he filed a suit to up the pressure and to shine a brighter spotlight on the suits that others have filed. As in, he heard about the lawsuits, was like “hey this applies to me, too, and I think this is an important fight to fight. I’m joining!” It sounds like because so many people have filed similar suits about the same thing, they are combining the lawsuits and they are being heard “in batches,” as the article says.
“Because there are so many claims against Newsgroup Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers the cases have been joined together and are being heard in regular batches.”
So he filed his own lawsuit and it has been combined with others. He might have filed his lawsuit knowing it would be combined with others.
That’s it in a nutshell, all that pressure that they were putting on a pregnant woman, some one said, it was like they were trying to get her to have a miscarriage, and I’m including Thomas in this, now he can get use to seeing Archie in pictures.
Thank goodness for Yoga and Mediation.
If nothing else, Meghan’s demeanor and Archie have made me really believe in the benefits of yoga and meditation. She keeps impressing me with her strength.
Meanwhile zip is said about Andy…
Not much can be said about Pedo Andy as Pedo Andy is part of and still under formal investigation.
The ‘Today Show’ played the mental health clip, and I bet they will play it in Australia.
Who is pushing this Fab Four nonsense? Typical Harry and Meghan style finished piece before it goes public.
I think it’s based on old actions but where new evidence has come to light thus allowing him and the other plaintiffs to bring forward a new action.
It also seems like the combined efforts constitutes a form of lobbying by ‘hacked off’. I suspect their end game is Levensen 2.
I think the way the press acted when Meghan was pregnant was the tipping point.
Here’s a clip of Harry talking about Kate when she was first pregnant with George.
https://twitter.com/Jasamgurlie/status/1181370206872096770?s=20
Meghan was never given that or the support from his ain’t shit brother.
Here is my Tinfoil Tiara theory: Something happened at Eugenie’s wedding. I do not know what happened but it is the something the public knows nothing about.
Conspiracy theory time!
Maybe the family was discussing Meghan’s pregnancy (I don’t think the announcement was made there) and angered the Yorks. Also, it creates a distraction controversy away from Andrew. And wouldn’t it infuriate Andrew and Fergie that their blood princess daughters are not working royals (which Eugenie totally wants) but the biracial actress was celebrated during the Oceania tour.
And no one will push back because Andrew is his mummy’s favorite and she’s already upset about the Epstein scandal.
The Queen is an elderly woman who wants to protect her pedo son. Charles fighting Andrew might upset their mother. And Will and Kate are all too happy to support the Queen if it scores them points so photo op with the Queen in the car soon after Andrew.
The press is sitting quiet on attacking the other members of the BRF (Andrew, Rose, the Queen, Charles vs. Andrew and the Queen) in exchange for open season on Meghan. Harry has been told to do his bit for the stability of the family image. Kate got her family order for smiling through William’s affair and focusing on the kids.
Harry has gone ahead anyway, even using a different lawfirm. Does Charles support this? Who knows? He’s deliberately staying in the background so far.
I don’t necessarily think something happened at Eugenie’s wedding. I think that a lot of stuff happened right around then though that all centered on H&M’s popularity and probably ticked off Andrew and Fergie for the reasons Bay and Silas mention and probably got under William’s skin as well. Meghan’s pregnancy, the tour – both knocking Eugenie’s wedding off the royal news cycle (of course WE all know her wedding wasn’t going to be the big royal story of the fall, but I think Andrew expected that). Then the rumors of William’s affair and now the Epstein story has gained a lot of steam – there was probably an expectation that the royals would just let this all play itself out, the RRs would get tired of Meghan and go on to the next thing, so Harry was probably told just to lay low – and that hasn’t happened, they’ve been ramping up their attacks on her, so Harry probably said “that’s enough.”
I don’t know . I have lots of thoughts and keep typing and rewording lol so i’ll just stop at this point haha.
BUT – to go against what I just said, lol – I don’t think something happened at Eugenie’s wedding, but it does seem like “something” happened last fall. I honestly think it was the success of the Oceania tour, as the BRF realized that H&M were hugely popular internationally and were able to handle a packed schedule on a royal tour.
@Becks1. The South Africa tour in terms of choice of engagements and in execution was much less glitzy than the last two tours. If the other royals felt put out that Meghan swooped in and did so well so quickly, this tour could seem like a response to that.
It’s like her choices were do less and be seen as workshy and possibly a gold digger, or work more and be called attention seeking and full of herself.
And maybe Harry thinks that if they’re going to attack him anyway, might as well be for fighting back.
If the Queen or Charles said no, I don’t think Harry and Meghan would go ahead. They wouldn’t burn those bridges so they have gotten the go ahead and I wonder why.
Meghan’s letter is a separate issue from what Harry is doing. Harry joined in on a lawsuit with several other people. It has been revealed that more people have been hacked and evidence was either covered up or destroyed.
We have to stop getting news from the people Harry and Meghan are suing. They are all working together to undermine the Sussexes. Notice how many of the royal reporters are questioning Harry’s mental health and intelligence. They are also trying to say that no one is supporting the Sussexes when polls have already revealed that that Harry and Meghan have a ton of support.
I agree, there’s some pretty good articles about the suit on the Guardian website.
I feel like this is Harry’s way of going after Piers and all the crap he put Meghan through. I think using her father against her was the final straw. I fully support Harry and Meghan for this. There has to be a time where you say enough is enough.
+ 💯
This is Harry’s way of getting Piers Morgan to stfu. Piers Morgan was deeply involved at an editorial level with multiple publications at the time of the hacking at issue. Notice it’s been crickets from him since word of Harry’s suit got out? That would be Piers’s lawyers telling him not to discuss active litigation (lest he incriminate himself). Piers is in DEEP with these hacking suits.
I too think end game for Harry’s phone hacking case (think it’s like a class action with multiple claimants) is for Levenson 2. That’s why so many in media are chiming in with faux concern, suggesting they leave, say they’ve had valid criticism.
Nicky Morgan already ruled it out in a seating last week so there will be mountain to climb with a conservative govt.
This is a great article on reaction to their lawsuits https://www.byline.com/column/68/article/2510
I hope M&H are successful in their lawsuits and that every person involved is exposed, charged and convicted. These vipers are scum buckets and have zero moral compass.
There is something deeply interesting about all of this stuff. I’ve been trying so hard to wrap my head around the NotW scandal, and still haven’t been able to. But there’s a part of me that thinks that there’s going to be some actual consequences for the tabloid structure as a whole as a result of this. We’ll have to see. If the reports about how Theresa May hushed up the burgeoning discontent about the tabloid press have any truth to them, then we’re going to see some real fall out, especially in the aftermath of Brexit.