Hugh Grant, the actor best known for his roles in romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, has settled a privacy case against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the Sun’s publisher. Grant had been suing NGN, alleging they had used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house. NGN denied the claims against it. In his statement, Grant said he “did not want to accept” the “enormous sum of money” he had been offered to settle the case but that a trial was likely to prove “very expensive”. The settlement amount has not been disclosed.
Grant’s was one of several cases that were eligible to go to trial at London’s High Court in January. The actor, alongside Prince Harry, was suing NGN for alleged widespread unlawful information gathering. The prince is continuing his legal battle with the company. Campaign group Hacked Off said: “The allegations of burglaries and theft which formed Mr Grant’s claim are devastating. Yet again, rather than see them tested in court, News UK have done everything to avoid facing accountability.”
Grant has been a vocal advocate for press reform since the phone-hacking scandal broke more than a decade ago. He previously brought a case against NGN in relation to the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, which was settled in 2012. NGN has rejected allegations of wrongdoing by staff at the Sun, and has settled more than 1,000 cases without making any admission of liability.
Tamsin Allen, head of media and information law at Bindmans, said the loser usually pays the winner’s costs, but a rule designed to encourage settlements before trial can change this. “Costs almost always exceed damages, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of pounds,” she told the PA Media news agency. “So instead of receiving damages, the winner can find themselves paying out enormous sums to their beaten opponent.
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