Prince Harry launches appeal after losing High Court battle with Daily Mail publisher - The Independent

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The Duke of Sussex and other prominent figures have launched a Court of Appeal bid challenging judicial rulings from their unsuccessful legal proceedings against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers.

The group, which also features Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, brought legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) following accusations of unlawful information-gathering.

ANL strongly denied the claims, which were considered across an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all of the cases in a judgment on July 7.

In a ruling during August, the judge ordered the group to pay £9,544,355 within seven days as an initial contribution to the publisher’s legal costs, pending further hearings to determine the full and final sum.

Mr Justice Nicklin also specified that ANL’s costs should be assessed on an indemnity basis, which is more advantageous to the publisher regarding recoverable sums, except where previous orders had already been made.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Harry, Lady Lawrence, Sir Elton, his husband David Furnish and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost said: “We confirm that the claimants have today filed applications with the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the judgments of Mr Justice Nicklin in respect of his dismissal of their claims and the indemnity costs order.

“The claimants respectfully disagree with those unprecedented decisions, which they consider to be legally and factually flawed.”

Court staff also confirmed on Friday that a bid to appeal against the rulings had been filed at the Court of Appeal.

Barristers for the group had alleged at trial that private investigators, freelance journalists and staff at ANL carried out acts including voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging”.

But lawyers for the publisher said that Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists provided a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”, including friends and “leaky” social circles, press officers and spokespeople, as well as previous reporting, freelance journalists and stories from other newspapers and news agencies.