Prince Harry can’t claim publisher targeted Kate: court
London’s High Court has ruled that lawyers representing Prince Harry and other high-profile figures in the UK cannot use claims that Prince William’s wife Kate was targeted in their privacy lawsuit against the Daily Mail publisher.
King Charles’ younger son Harry and six others, including singer Elton John, are suing Associated Newspapers (ANL) over alleged illegal information collection dating back 30 years.
ANL, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, has always denied any wrongdoing and has previously described the plaintiffs’ claims as “preposterous smears”.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs had sought to amend their case to add a new set of allegations to the trial, which is scheduled to begin early next year and could see Harry return to the witness stand in his latest case against the UK press.
Last week they argued that the Mail should be allowed to rely on evidence showing his involvement in the targeting of Kate.
Her husband William is heir to the throne and Harry’s older brother.
But Judge Matthew Nicklin ruled that the claim that Kate was targeted by a private investigator on behalf of a Mail journalist was made too late before the trial.
In court filings, the plaintiffs’ legal team first alleged that details about William’s 21st birthday party in 2003 were obtained by “bragging,” that is, by deception of William’s confidential information.
The plaintiffs did not seek to add this claim to their lawsuit, and it was not decided by the judge.
In a separate case, lawyers said William and Kate’s mobile phones were hacked on behalf of journalists and that William was privately settling a claim against Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper arm.
ANL was also able to strike out portions of the plaintiffs’ case; Nicklin said he would dismiss the unrelated allegations to stop the case from “degenerating into an uncontrolled and wide-ranging investigation akin to a public inquiry.”
However, some of ANL’s objections were also rejected by the judge, on the grounds that the plaintiffs relied on findings from cases filed against Murdoch News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the Daily Mirror publisher.
A source familiar with the case said the plaintiffs will seek permission to appeal Friday’s ruling.
ANL declined to comment.
