London judge rejects Prince Harry’s bid to add allegations against Rupert Murdoch in tabloid lawsuit

A London judge says Prince Harry can’t expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid’s publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information ga…

LONDON — LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry can’t expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid’s publisher to add allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision by Judge Timothy Fancourt in the High Court was a mixed ruling for the Duke of Sussex in one of his three invasion of privacy lawsuits he has brought in his ongoing battles against British tabloids.

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 Sun has never accepted liability.

The three-day hearing in March included claims against NGN by others, including actor Hugh Grant, who accused The Sun of tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to snoop on him.

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 David Sherborne has suggested that Harry may have to settle for the same reason.

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 Mirror Group Newspapers. In addition to a court judgment, he settled remaining allegations that included his legal fees