Prince Harry and several other high-profile claimants must pay an interim legal bill of £9.54 million (about $17.89 million Canadian) toward the Daily Mail publisher’s costs after their privacy lawsuits failed, London’s High Court ruled on Friday. The decision comes as the seven claimants pursue claims against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, alleging unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to plant listening devices in cars.
The court’s order requires the interim payment to cover a portion of the defendant’s legal expenses in the high-profile case. The ruling was issued ahead of ongoing legal proceedings and while the claimants previously pressed privacy grievances against the media organization.
Details on the breakdown of the costs, the exact nature of the asserted unlawful activities, and the subsequent steps in the case were not provided in the filing. The decision places a substantial financial burden on Prince Harry and the other plaintiffs as the litigation unfolds in London.