A judge has chosen to step back from dealing with the legal costs of the Duke of Sussex’s legal battle with the publisher of the Daily Mirror.
Senior Costs Judge Jason Rowley said on Thursday he would “recuse” himself from a hearing concerning the amount of legal costs to be paid after Harry sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), adding his decision is “nothing to do with the parties involved”.
Harry, 40, sued the publisher for damages, claiming journalists at its publications were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” – gaining information by deception – and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
Following a High Court trial, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled in December 2023 that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at MGN titles in the late 1990s, and that it hacked Harry’s phone “to a modest extent”.
He awarded the duke £140,600 in damages after finding 15 articles about Harry were the product of unlawful information gathering.
Harry then settled the remaining parts of his claim against the publisher last year, with his barrister, David Sherborne, telling the High Court in February 2024 that MGN would pay “substantial” additional damages and “all the costs of the duke’s claim”, including an interim payment towards the costs of £400,000.
At the start of a hearing at a specialist costs court on Thursday, Judge Rowley said: “Having seen the documents rather more fully… I have taken the view that I need to recuse myself from this case.”
He continued: “It is not a decision I have taken lightly.”
Judge Rowley said he was employed by Temple Legal Protection for “about 10 months” before his appointment as a costs judge in 2013, which had “not really been an issue” in his current role.
But he said he worked on a “bespoke” policy while at Temple Legal Protection which applied to “about 40% of the costs” in the current case.
He said: “I am concerned that I may have knowledge of how this is done that is not before the parties.”
He continued: “It seems to me obvious that the risk is there.”
He also said that while the issue is “not a point that has been raised by the parties”, a different judge will take over the case.
A further hearing will take place at a later date.
