LONDON –
Hugh Grant accepted “a huge sum of money” to settle a lawsuit accusing tabloid The Sun of illegally tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to spy on him, the actor said Wednesday after the agreement in court.
Grant said he reluctantly settled because of a court policy that could have left him with a huge legal bill even if he had prevailed at trial, a reality that could also force fellow plaintiff Prince Harry to reach a settlement. agreement, his lawyer said. A civil court rule intended to prevent court overload would have required Grant to pay legal fees to both sides if he had won at trial but been awarded something less than his settlement offer.
“As is often the case with completely innocent people, I am being offered a huge sum of money to keep this matter out of court,” Grant said on social media platform X. “Even if all the allegations were proven in court, I would still be responsible for something approaching £10 million (US$12.4 million) in costs, I’m afraid I’m jumping over that fence.”
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. NGN said in a statement that it did not admit liability and that the settlement was in the financial interest of both parties to avoid a costly trial.
Grant and other plaintiffs have alleged that NGN, a subsidiary of the media empire built by Rupert Murdoch, violated their privacy through widespread illegal activities that included hiring private investigators to intercept voicemails, tap phones, intercept cars and use deception. to access confidential information between 1994 and 2016.
Grant is among several celebrities, including actress Sienna Miller, soccer star Paul Gascoigne and Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm who have settled lawsuits against the publisher.
Attorney Gideon Benaim, who was not involved in the case, said the publisher likely used the court’s “incredibly powerful” rules by making an offer that Grant would likely not beat at trial. If a judge awarded Grant less than his settlement offer, he would have faced significant legal costs under the rules.
“His lawyers would have left Hugh Grant in little doubt that the offer was presented in such a way that there was a real risk that he would not ‘beat’ it at trial,” Benaim said. “Therefore, although he would have preferred to have fought the case, the financial risks were simply too great and, in fact, he had no choice but to settle.”
The agreement leaves the Duke of Sussex and 41 others scheduled to go on trial at the High Court in January, although their lawyer said they were being “forced” to reach agreements.
“The Duke of Sussex is subject to the same problems that Sienna Miller and Hugh Grant have been subject to, which is to say that they are being made offers that make it impossible for them to move forward,” David Sherborne told a judge on Wednesday at a hearing in the case.
The settlement came less than a year after Judge Timothy Fancourt rejected NGN’s attempt to dismiss Grant’s lawsuit alleging illegal information collection.
“If true… these allegations would establish a very serious and deliberate wrongdoing at NGN, carried out on a large-scale institutional basis,” Fancourt wrote in May. “They would also establish a concerted effort to conceal wrongdoing by concealing and destroying relevant documentary evidence, repeated public denials, lies to regulators and authorities, and unjustified threats to those who dared to make accusations or report anticipated claims against The Sun.”
Grant said in a witness statement that he was never able to find out who broke into his fourth-floor apartment in 2011. The door had been ripped off its hinges and the inside looked as if there had been a fight, but nothing was missing. Two days later, The Sun published a story detailing the interior and “signs of a domestic dispute.”
He said he was shocked when a private detective hired by The Sun revealed that people working for the newspaper had burgled his apartment and placed a tracking device on his car.
Grant, who previously settled a case against Murdoch’s News of the World for hacking his phone, said he would not go quietly.
“Murdoch settlement money stinks and I refuse to let this be hush money,” he said. “I have spent the better part of 12 years fighting for a free press that does not distort the truth, abuse ordinary members of the public or hold elected (MPs) to ransom for the personal gain and political power of newspaper magnates.”
Grant said he would direct the money to groups such as Hacked Off, which was formed after phone hacking revelations in 2011 brought down the News of the World and led to a government investigation into illegal press practices. Grant is a board member of the group that advocates for a free and responsible press.
While the now-defunct News of the World apologized for hacking into the phones of celebrities, politicians and the families of dead soldiers and a murdered schoolgirl, The Sun has settled cases without admitting liability.
For Prince Harry, the case against The Sun is one of three similar lawsuits he has filed in his crusade to tame Britain’s tabloids. He says the newspapers have harassed him most of his life and blames them for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident while being chased by paparazzi.
Last year, he won his first case to go to trial when Fancourt found that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers. In addition to a court ruling, she recently settled the remaining allegations that included his legal fees. The total sum was not announced, but she was due to receive a provisional payment of 400,000 pounds (US$498,000).
He has another case pending against the owner of the Daily Mail.