Prince Harry’s 2nd Unlawful Information Gathering Trial Will Go Forward Without Phone Hacking Claims

usmagazine.com:

Prince Harry‘s case against News Group Newspapers will go to trial early next year — without his phone hacking claims.London’s High Court ruled on Thursday, July 27, that Harry’s lawsuit accusing NGN, which owns The Sun, can move forward, but Judge Timothy Fancourt threw out the phone hacking allegations for being too old.

Fancourt said that the Duke of Sussex, 38, was aware of the British phone hacking scandal and could have brought those claims earlier but ruled that the case can proceed on allegations about other unlawful information gathering.Harry’s legal team previously argued that he couldn’t file a phone hacking lawsuit earlier because of a “secret agreement” between British newspapers and the royal family.

Harry claimed his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II approved the alleged deal, which would have prevented royal family members from having to go to court for questioning about potentially embarrassing voicemails obtained by reporters.Harry said he became aware of the alleged deal in 2012 after he and his brother, Prince William, were told they couldn’t bring their own legal action against NGN because of the agreement.

In April, Harry claimed in court documents that William, 41, settled with NGN for a “very large sum” in 2020 over historical phone hacking.In order to view the video, please allow Manage CookiesNGN, however, denied that any secret agreement existed, and Fancourt said on Thursday that Harry failed to produce any evidence that confirmed such a deal.