This week, we learned that Hugh Grant got an out-of-court settlement from The Sun (News Group Newspapers, or NGN) for their years of hacking, stalking and harassment. Grant explained why he basically had to take the settlement offer, because if he didn’t, he would have likely been on the hook for millions in legal bills. Grant and Prince Harry were part of the same group suing NGN, and Harry’s lawyer David Sherbourne confirmed to the court this week that NGN had also made a settlement offer to Harry… but as everyone can see, Harry is hellbent on going to trial. So, there was some good news – NGN’s lawyers were not able to delay the trial any further, and Harry’s trial is still scheduled for early next year.

The Duke of Sussex has won the latest skirmish in his legal battle with the publisher of The Sun after the High Court rejected an application to delay a trial, insisting it should go ahead as planned next January

News Group Newspapers (NGN) had applied to push back the trial for alleged unlawful information gathering in order to allow the court to determine whether the claims, by Prince Harry and 41 others, were brought too late.

But Mr Justice Fancourt said that to do so would likely push the full trial back another two years, incurring significant extra cost in what has already proved to be “very expensive litigation”.

“I consider there are too few advantages at this stage to abandoning the orderly preparation of a trial on all issues to instead have a trial on only one issue,” he told the court. He said the January 2025 trial date had been set in November 2022 and that NGN had left it too late to raise an objection.

“It would be quite a serious thing to overturn at such a late stage,” he said, noting that all existing parties had “been working for years” on the case. The judge said a large amount of preparation had already been done “at considerable expense” with a view to all issues being tried in 2025.

[From The Telegraph]

I understand that certain issues need statutes of limitations, but it remains bonkers to me how British laws have been twisted to protect the blackmailers and criminals in the press. It’s insane that someone learns, years or even decades after the fact, that they’ve been hacked and they can’t do anything about it because too much time has passed… meanwhile, the press have been actively obfuscating, lying and covering up their illegal actions for years. Anyway, I’m glad the judge wasn’t buying it.

Speaking of lies and defamation, you know how Prince William’s old private secretary Simon Case was one of the architects of the campaign against the Sussexes circa 2018-19? Well, surprise surprise, Case is being credibly accused of creating a hostile racist work environment when he was in Boris Johnson’s cabinet.

The Cabinet Office under top Downing Street aide Simon Case has been accused of a “hostile racist working environment” by a former official who says she was forced out of her job https://t.co/64XhogzQJB

— Standard News (@standardnews) April 18, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.