Four settle phone hacking claims against MGN Limited
May, 2018 - Birmingham, England
National law firm Shoosmiths is presently acting for a significant number of clients in respect of misuse of private information relating to voicemail interception claims.
The firm has recently settled four of those claims against MGN Limited (“MGN”) for Dwight Yorke, Jennifer Ellison, Danielle Lloyd and Andrew Cole. Out of Court settlements were reached for all four with MGN accepting liability and publically apologising in statements read out in Court today.
MGN accepted that its unlawful activities were widespread in three national tabloid newspapers, namely the Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People. Its journalists targeted the clients by hacking into their voicemails and by hiring private detectives to find information. Those actions caused significant distress and the clients were appalled to learn that they had been targeted in this manner. MGN also provided undertakings not to intercept or attempt to intercept voicemails in the future.
MGN accepted that the procurement of private information about the clients should never have happened and acknowledged that their behaviour was morally wrong and deeply regretted the wrongful acts.
Litigation partner at Shoosmiths, Mark Elder and associate, Rebekah Finch, secured the settlements for the four which included payment of damages and payment of the clients’ reasonable legal costs.
Commenting on the settlements today, Elder said: “We’re pleased to have resolved these claims against MGN on behalf of our clients. Our clients may be in the public eye but they have a right to a private life, which should be respected. A settlement has been reached with MGN and our clients are happy with the outcome.”
Mark Elder is a trusted adviser to his high-profile client base particularly advising high net worth individuals in the sport and entertainment industry on a wide variety of reputational management issues, defamation, privacy and crisis management. He leads the Shoosmiths team on all phone hacking, e-mail interception and computer hacking claims against tabloid newspapers and has in-depth knowledge of this area.
