Latest hearing in Duke of Sussex legal case against Mail publisher set to begin

A further hearing in the Duke of Sussex’s High Court claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail is set to begin on Wednesday.

Harry and six other high-profile individuals, including Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, and actress Liz Hurley, are bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

They have accused the publisher of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records, burglaries to order, and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

The group also includes actress Sadie Frost, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence and politician Sir Simon Hughes.

ANL firmly denies the allegations and is defending the legal action, previously describing the claims as “lurid” and “simply preposterous”.

The two-day hearing before Mr Justice Nicklin is expected to begin on Wednesday and is set to deal with preliminary issues in the claims, with no findings yet made in respect of the allegations.

The trial of the claims could be held in 2026 and last up to nine weeks.

In November 2023, Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed ANL’s bid for a ruling in its favour before a trial after the publisher’s lawyers argued the claims were brought “far too late”.

In March 2024, Government ministers ruled that confidential documents from the Leveson Inquiry relating to Daily Mail records of payments to private investigators could be disclosed in the duke’s claim, after changing restrictions put in place during the inquiry.

Last November, the court heard from ANL’s lawyers that Baroness Lawrence was “alerted” to a potential legal claim by a text from the Duke of Sussex in January 2022, and met lawyers Harry had been working with a few days later.

In January, Mr Justice Nicklin and Judge David Cook said in a ruling that the two sides’ proposed budgets – totalling more than £38.8 million – were “manifestly excessive and therefore disproportionate”.

Mr Justice Nicklin also ruled in July that Harry’s lawyers must hand over documents that relate to alleged payments made for evidence in his legal claim, after lawyers for ANL told a hearing in May that some documents had been disclosed showing that “payments were made or offered” to “procure evidence and invoices”.

The judge said that those taking legal action had adopted an “inconsistent and incoherent approach to disclosure of documents relating to payments to potential witnesses and/or other inducements”.

He also ordered that lawyers for the claimants should conduct searches to identify and hand over documents ANL could rely on “in advancing a case that potential witnesses have been given or offered financial incentives to provide information or evidence in support of allegations” of unlawful information gathering (UIG).

Harry was previously awarded £140,600 in damages after suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), and received “substantial damages” after settling a claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN) in January this year.