Phone hacking apology designed to keep cases out of court
News of the World faces 24 separate lawsuits, from Sienna Miller to former Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray, writes Dan Sabbagh
News of the World faces 24 separate lawsuits over phone hacking, including from Sienna Miller. Photograph: Graham Whitby Boot/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation tried again and again to brush off the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. It was, executives argued, the work of a "rogue reporter", the jailed former royal editor Clive Goodman; the Guardian had "substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public" when this newspaper first revealed that the scandal went wider than the hacking of a few members of Prince William's entourage. But as the scandal unfolded, and more and more evidence seeped out, there came a point when Murdoch had to act.
Yesterday's admission of liability first became possible when Andy Coulson stepped down as David Cameron's director of communications – because to do so when he was in post would have triggered an immediate resignation. It became likely when the Metropolitan police began giving up pages from the notebooks of Glenn Mulcaire, the £100,000-a-year private investigator employed by the News of the World, to the growing number of celebrity litigants chasing the newspaper. But it only became certain when Mr Justice Vos, tiring of the growing number of cases, decided that he would hold a case conference next week.
There are 24 separate lawsuits against the News of the World – from Sienna Miller to former Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray, through to those close to the famous, such as Nicola Phillips, a former assistant to Max Clifford. So many cases were beginning to clog up the courts and Vos wanted to simplify proceedings so the most important could come to trial in the autumn. Until now the pace of evidence disclosure has been halting, but last month the police were ordered to stop redacting their copies of Mulcaire's notebooks, and News Corporation has been ordered to release thousands of internal emails to Miller's lawyers and those of Sky Andrew, the football agent.
News Corporation insiders said yesterday that its admissions of liability in eight of the cases were actions of "good faith" that had taken "months and months" to prepare. The company, too, did not know the entire weight of evidence against it. Its "unreserved apology" and admission that its previous internal inquiries were "not sufficiently robust" became necessary once it realised that it was likely to lose if any of the eight cases came to court.
The result is that some cases, perhaps all eight, will not come to court. There was heavy speculation that Miller, one of the most visible, would settle quickly. That would avoid a potentially damaging trial in which all sorts of evidence could emerge.
Some of those bringing cases were specifically aiming to get Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, his predecessor as News of the World editor, now chief executive, in the witness box. They may not succeed – because as the company argues, once it has conceded liability, the only thing left to argue about is the level of damages. And while it will be necessary for some document disclosure to assess the level of damages, the evidence flying around will be far less than would be necessary if the battle were over establishing guilt. In short, as a result of the settlements, it is likely that only a fraction of the evidence will now be disclosed in the civil actions.
News Corporation, veterans of many legal battles, can also be confident that the level of payments required will be manageable. The suggestion that its total legal bills and payouts will reach £20m when the affair is concluded may sound like a substantial bill, but the sum pales against the $2.5bn of net profit that Rupert Murdoch's company achieved last year. There is not even any prospect of the company's blockbuster £8bn takeover of BSkyB being affected: allies of Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary ruling on the bid, said yesterday that phone hacking was not a relevant factor. "Legally we can't consider it," said one adviser. The only matter of debate is whether the takeover affects "media plurality" in the UK, not whether it demonstrates that one media organisation can become so powerful that it believes it is acting above the law.
Yesterday, News Corporation refused to concede that any further sacrifices are needed; Andy Coulson has already resigned twice and one other journalist, former assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson, has been sacked. But News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, arrested this week, remains an employee and the company would not answer questions as to whether he had been suspended.
News Corp continues, almost certainly, to pay Mulcaire's legal bills, even though it was his notebooks that led to the apology.
There is, now, only one issue left for News Corporation to worry about: the criminal inquiry headed by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers. That is something that Murdoch cannot control, but after yesterday's admission, the company has shown, again, that it has begun to close down the crisis, pointing the way to a resolution.
No wonder, then, that James Murdoch – his father's heir apparent – could confidently say yesterday: "It shows what we were able to do is really put this problem into a box."
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