Prince Harry Can Pursue Legal Claim Against The Sun Judge Rules
Prince Harry has gotten the go ahead in yet another legal battle, this time against British tabloid The Sun.
Harry first launched his legal claim against The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers in Sept. 2019 over what he claims is unlawful information gathering.
In April, lawyers for the publisher went before the London High Court to argue the prince’s complaint was time-barred, as many of the events he refers to took place in the later 1990s and early 2000s.
On Thursday Judge Timothy Fancourt ruled part of his damages claim could proceed to trial. Only those claims relating to phone hacking have been barred.
It will be the latest in a raft of legal actions Harry, the youngest son of Britain’s King Charles III, is pursuing against British newspapers.
Earlier this year he became the first British royal to enter the witness box in 130 years after he gave evidence in a similar lawsuit against publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.
He is also pursuing two claims against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Daily Mail. One for libel, regarding a story about his attempt to pay privately for police protection in the U.K., and another for unlawful information gathering.
All three publishers have denied Harry’s claims bar one incident that the Mirror Group has admitted and apologized for.
The prince has also attempt to bring two judicial reviews in London’s High Court regarding the government’s decision to prevent him from paying privately for police protection. He lost one of those legal challenges in May, when Mr Justice Chamberlain refused permission for a judicial review against Ravec, the committee that decides on police protection for royals and other public figures.
Ravec had argued that allowing Harry to pay privately for public police protection would open the floodgates to any wealthy individual who wanted to “buy” police security.
A judicial review does not look at the merits of a case but at a public body’s decision making process.
Source: Variety
