A trial of the preliminary issue of limitation begins today in the remaining phone hacking claims brought by various claimants against MGN Limited, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.
Following a seven-week trial in 2023, Mr Justice Fancourt gave judgment in respect of four claims, including that brought by the Duke of Sussex: [2023] EWHC 3217 (Ch). The Judge upheld MGN’s defence of limitation in the two claims in which it was raised, finding that former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Whiteman, ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, could not rely on s.32 of the Limitation Act 1980 to postpone time running for limitation purposes. The unsuccessful claimants were refused permission to appeal.
MGN’s application for a trial on limitation only, as a preliminary issue, was granted by the Judge in November 2024.
A substantial number of claimants have since discontinued.
Five of the remaining claimants have been agreed by the parties to be tried as raising particular issues for the Court to consider whether any justify adopting a different approach to that in the 2023 trial: Ulrika Jonsson’s agent Melanie Cantor; fashion designer Patrick Cox; Murray Harkin, PR agent and former business partner of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh; former Strictly Come Dancing dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup; and former male ‘supermodel’ Paul Sculfor.
The trial, before Mr Justice Fancourt in the Rolls Building, is listed for 2 weeks.
5RB’s Richard Munden appears for the Defendant, instructed by RPC.