The phone hacking scandal is moving into a new phase today, as a High Court judge is due to decide which of the many pending cases will proceed to a full trial.
It comes as more celebrities prepare to launch legal action against the News Of The World, which is thought to be trying to stop the court proceedings becoming more damaging.
The former Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten is the latest high profile personality to begin legal action against the tabloid. He was a rising star in the party until the newspaper revealed he had visited a rent boy.
Last week, actress Sienna Miller accepted £100,000 from the News Of The World for hacking into her phone, although commentators said it was not certain whether other claimants would get more money.
Media lawyer Christina Michalos says that while £100,000 is a large payout for such a case, there is a risk that a court may be convinced to award "exemplary damages" to punish the newspaper, as well as compensatory damages to the victim.
It is thought there are even more as-yet unannounced high-profile cases pending against the News Of The World, and potentially other newspapers.
For the past month, lawyers for the various claimants have been haggling among themselves to work out which cases will be put forward to the judge, Mr Justice Vos, for him to try as test cases. He has made it clear he only wants a handful to go all the way to a full trial. It was thought Sienna Miller would be one of those cases, but her settlement effectively ruled her out.
It is possible that her former stepmother Kelly Hoppen may be among them, along with football pundit Andy Gray and agent Sky Andrew.
The News Of The World has set aside £20m to settle the claims, but it is thought that owners News International will do whatever it takes to prevent the cases going to a full trial.
Journalism professor and former tabloid editor Roy Greenslade said: "They don't want a court case, they don't want a trial, they don't want their dirty deeds to come out."
Greenslade added that the newspaper certainly did not want the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire appearing in front of a judge and being questioned "about who said what to whom, who asked him to do these things. That's what they want to avoid". Mulcaire was jailed for hacking into phones of the royal household for the paper's then royal editor Clive Goodman.
With Sienna Miller's ex-boyfriend Jude Law adding his name to the list of complainants against the News Of The World, and the police still investigating any possible criminal activity, this story is set to run for some time.
Harold Camping News
Evangelical Christian Harold Camping, 89, is certain that Saturday May 21, 2011 is Judgement Day. The Rapture, another name for Judgement Day, is supposedly the time when God's chosen people will ascend to heaven and the rest of us are left behind to face apocalyptic scenes of earthquakes and fire.
Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster and president of religious broadcasting network 'Family Radio', came up with the date by interpreting and adding numbers in the Bible - he had done the same thing once before with he incorrectly predicted Judgement Day would occur in 1994 - ending up apologising and blaming a mathematical error.
In this case, however, he insists he is right and some Americans are making the most of their time left with 'Rapture Parties' across the country.
Whether May 21, 2011 is going to be Judgement Day in line with Harold Camping's prediction remains to be seen. Share your views below:
No comments:
Post a Comment