Is Prince Harry’s lawsuit a separate thing, or is he joining an existing lawsuit?

The website Byling Investigates was the outlet which broke the story about Prince Harry suing the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World. Even though Harry’s lawsuit seems like its own thing, Byline Investigates also seems to say that Harry’s lawsuit is part of a larger lawsuit with other victims of press interference and hacking. Harry’s lawsuit also involves so much stuff with his mother. You can read one of Byline Investigates’ exclusives here. As for how long all of this is going to take and what everything will look like, the Guardian had some additional info:

Prince Harry’s legal action against newspaper publishers over phone-hacking is likely to take a year to come to court, it has emerged, as pressure builds over the tabloids’ treatment of the royal family. His decision to join group litigation launched by others who have said they were victims of phone-hacking came shortly after his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, sued the publisher of the Mail on Sunday for disclosing a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.

In Harry’s lawsuit the publishers of the Mirror, Sun and now defunct News of the World are to face allegations in court that evidence of misconduct has been concealed and destroyed, according to members of Hacked Off, the campaign group that works closely with victims of what it terms “press abuse”. Such claims are being repeatedly raised in the phone-hacking cases currently before the courts. Senior executives of what was then News International were cleared in 2014 of perverting the course of justice.

News UK, publisher of the Sun, has confirmed that a claim has been issued against it by the prince. Reach Plc, which now owns the Daily Mirror, is also aware that proceedings have been issued. Hugh Tomlinson QC, chairman of Hacked Off, told the Guardian that the case illustrated the need to re-open the uncompleted Leveson inquiry.

“Prince Harry’s case reminds us of the scale of wrongdoing by certain newspapers which went on over many years,” Tomlinson said. “Hacked Off has long campaigned for part two of the Leveson inquiry to find out what actually happened. This reminds us of the need for that. It’s interesting that the action brought by the Duchess of Sussex reminds us that the press misconduct, which newspapers have said is a thing of the past, is still continuing. It emphasises the urgent need for an inquiry.”

Because there are so many claims against Newsgroup Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers the cases have been joined together and are being heard in regular batches. Most are settled out of court through payments; the prince’s claims are not expected to come to trial, if they reach court, until next October at the earliest.

[From The Guardian]

Try as I might, I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand the extent to which the British press operates in the UK, nor will I truly understand how these lawsuits against the press work. I seem to remember that the Leveson Inquiry turned over a lot of rocks and found a lot of sh-t, and that everyone just worked overtime to make sure a lot of that sh-t was hushed up. It’s not that the press is all-powerful in Britain, it’s that everything is so interconnected and run by graft and favors and the “old boys’ club.” Ruper Murdoch’s press can make or break politicians, royals, celebrities, or at least that’s how it used to be. Anyway… is Harry’s lawsuit some separate thing? I’m trying to figure that out. The Guardian makes it sounds like he’s joining in an ongoing lawsuit and that he’s fine with it taking as long as it will take.

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