The decision by Judge
Fancourt allowed the
But he rejected Harry's efforts to expand the case beyond the period from 1996 to 2015 to include claims of eavesdropping on his mother, the late
Fancourt said allegations that Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to wrongdoing added nothing material to claims made against
The judge said some of Harry's efforts to blame additional executives were to further a political agenda.
“There is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants’ side to shoot at ‘trophy' targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals,” Fancourt wrote. “Tempting though it no doubt is for the claimants’ team to attempt to inculpate the man at the very top, doing so will add nothing to a finding that
Brooks is chief executive officer of News
Both sides claimed victory in the ruling that precedes a trial scheduled early next year.
Fancourt said that it was a split victory with the defense gaining an edge on the issues argued. He ordered Harry and other claimants to pay a third of NGN's costs spent litigating the proposed amendments.
The claimants said in a statement that they were pleased the judge allowed many of the amendments that had been “vigorously opposed by NGN.”
The company issued an unreserved apology in 2011 to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed its doors after a phone hacking scandal. NGN said it has settled 1,300 claims for its newspapers, though
The three-day hearing in March included claims against NGN by others, including actor
Since then, Grant said he had reluctantly agreed to accept "an enormous sum of money” to settle his lawsuit.
Grant said he had to settle because of a court policy that could have stuck him with a huge legal bill even if he prevailed at trial. A civil court rule intended to avoid jamming up the courts would have required Grant to pay legal fees to both sides if he won at trial but was awarded anything lower than the settlement offer.
Attorney
Harry has a similar case pending against the owner of the Daily Mail.
Last year, he won his first case to go to trial when Fancourt found phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at
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