A Week of Mixed Results for Harry's Legal Endeavors, Plus the Sussex/Archewell Christmas Card
Champagne corks are probably popping in Montecito tonight, as today Prince Harry won a modest judgment in his suit against MGN. I say modest, because Harry sued over 148 articles, 33 were selected for trial, and of those, the judge has ruled that 15 were the product of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering. The judge did not seem to think the case was a blockbuster and awarded Harry £140,600. According to the Telegraph:
Delivering his ruling, the judge said: “I have found the Duke’s case of voicemail interception and unlawful information-gathering proved in part only. I found that 15 out of the 33 articles that were tried were the product of phone hacking of his mobile phone or the mobile phones of his associates, or the product of other unlawful information-gathering.
“I consider that his phone was only hacked to a modest extent and that this was probably carefully controlled by certain people at each newspaper. However, it did happen on occasions from about the end of 2003 to April 2009 (which was the date of the last article that I examined).
“There was a tendency for the Duke in his evidence to assume that everything published was the product of voicemail interception because phone hacking was rife within Mirror Group at the time. But phone hacking was not the only journalistic tool at the time, and his claims in relation to the other 18 articles did not stand up to careful analysis.”
You all know I am no fan of Prince Harry, but I don’t condone phone hacking, either. Harry’s barrage of ridiculous lawsuits has detracted from a few of his legal pursuits that are more reasonable. Putting aside whether it was prudent for a royal to embroil himself in this lawsuit, given it was not exactly a massive case, it sounds like Harry deserved a favorable judgment, to the extent he got it.
The bigger issue I have