Elton John, Prince Harry, Others Ordered to Pay $13M Legal Bill

Elton John, Prince Harry, and others have been ordered to foot a staggering $13 million legal bill in connection with their case against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers.

High Court Justice Matthew Nicklin made that sizable bill official today when granting what outlets across the pond described as a “rare” indemnity order. Turning the clock back to 2022 for a moment, the filing parties in a press release outlined the “abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy” they allegedly suffered at the hands of the defendants.

Just in passing, the plaintiffs pointed to alleged payments to “police officials…for inside, sensitive information,” the alleged hiring of “investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes,” and additional alleged “unlawful acts.”

What might have seemed a suitably energetic way to kick off an important legal battle eventually factored into the damages determination; the High Court in many more words framed the release’s “highly charged language” as the start of an ultra-aggressive litigation strategy.

But ultimately, this strategy resulted in “a constantly changing case” advanced in pursuit of the far-reaching initial claims despite material evidence developments and important findings along the way, per the judge.

Regarding the meaning of “along the way” here: One marathon process (including a nearly three-month-long trial) later, the suit was tossed in its entirety last month.

“It was a case in which very grave allegations were advanced on an exceptionally wide canvas, with extensive publicity, in reliance in significant part on compromised or unsupported evidence, and were then pursued through disclosure, witness evidence and trial in a shifting and unpleaded fashion without appropriate withdrawal or reassessment,” the court summed up.

And after exploring plenty of different angles – the purported reputational harm inflicted on the publisher’s employees, the failure to voluntarily withdraw “a single allegation of serious wrongdoing,” and a data-intensive assessment of the legal bill – the judge ordered the plaintiffs to cough up £9.5 million (currently $13 million) by August 28th.

That’s certainly nothing to scoff at, but the High Court also opted against capping the defendants’ recoverable costs – albeit while describing their claimed incurred expenses of $47 million/£34.5 million as appearing to be “exceptionally high.”

Exceptionally high or not, Associated Newspapers can now attempt to recover the whole sum; the plaintiffs’ insurance will only pay up to $22.1 million/£16.2 million, per the BBC.

To state the obvious, then, the publisher is undoubtedly eager to push for a mountain of damages. On the opposite side of the dispute, a vigorous defense is presumably forthcoming, though the turn of events also raises questions about the legal services provided thus far.

To be sure, the court reiterated “that no Claimant” – meaning Elton John and others – “has been found dishonest,” besides noting their “genuine concerns about how private information about them had appeared in” the relevant newspapers.

The same individuals probably didn’t write the press release themselves, decide precisely which strategies to employ in the leadup to the trial, or fail to withdraw disproved allegations during said trial.

Nevertheless, they’re the ones staring down a multimillion-dollar judgment, and they’ll probably be left in suspense for a while; the final damages figure could be more than a year out, according to the Telegraph.