Hugh Grant Speaks Out After Settling Lawsuit With U.K. Tabloid: ‘I Refuse to Let This Be Hush Money’
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In a measure to avoid paying millions of pounds to lawyers, Hugh Grant has accepted a settlement in his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN). The BBC reports that the resolution became known on Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for an expected trial.
The transaction ends more than a decade of filings after Grant accused Murdoch’s now-defunct Sun of tapping his cell phone, bugging his car, and breaking into his apartment around 2011. A U.K. judge ruled last year that the suit could go to trial — a prospect that delighted Grant, who wanted public justice — with the exception of his phone-hacking allegations since those exceeded a six-year statute of limitations. But now that the suit won’t be going to court, Grant has posted a thread explaining why he took the settlement and making it clear that the payout is not “hush money” as NGN denies misconduct.
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“News Group are claiming they are entirely innocent of the things I had accused the Sun of doing — phone hacking, unlawful information gathering, landline tapping, the burglary of my flat and office, the bugging of my car, the illegal blagging of medical records, lies, perjury, and the destruction of evidence,” he wrote. “As is common with entirely innocent people, they are offering me an enormous sum of money to keep this matter out of court.”
The actor went on to write that while he would prefer to see his allegations tried in court, a rule surrounding civil cases in the U.K. tipped the scale in favor of taking the money. “If I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides,” he wrote. “My lawyers tell me that that is exactly what would most likely happen here. Rupert Murdoch’s lawyers are very expensive. So even if every allegation is proven in court, I would still be liable for something approaching £10 million in costs. I’m afraid I am shying at that fence.” Grant alleges that Murdoch has spent £1 billion settling more than 1,500 cases in this manner.
Grant resolved to redistribute the settlement to the organization Hacked Off, which formed in relation to phone-hacking scandals in the U.K. with the goal of reforming the country’s press. “Murdoch’s settlement money has a stink and I refuse to let this be hush money,” he wrote. “I have spent the best part of 12 years fighting for a free press that does not distort the truth, abuse ordinary members of the public, or hold elected [members of Parliament] to ransom in pursuit of newspaper barons’ personal profit and political power. So this money will repurposed via groups like Hacked Off into the general campaign to expose the worst excesses of our oligarch-owned press.”
A spokesperson for NGN told the BBC that the company is looking to resolve “disputed matters” that date back decades. “In some cases, it has made commercial sense for both parties to come to a settlement agreement before trial to bring a resolution to the matter,” the statement read. “There are a number of disputed claims still going through the civil courts some of which seek to involve The Sun. The Sun does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegations.
“A judge recently ruled that parts of Mr. Grant’s claim were out of time, and we have reached agreement to settle the remainder of the case,” it continued. “This has been done without admission of liability. It is in both parties [sic]financial interests not to progress to a costly trial.”
The BBC reports that Grant previously settled another lawsuit against News of the World, another NGN title, in 2012.
Last year, Prince Harry won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers, another tabloid publisher. A judge found the company, which prints The Mirror and other titles, liable for “unlawful information gathering” tactics, including hacking Harry’s phone. Harry has a lawsuit against NGN slated to go to trial this year.
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