LONDON – Fifty-nine of the first sixty phone hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch’s News International have been settled. Hugh Tomlinson, the lawyer for the victims, said six more lawsuits had been issued and that 50 other cases are in preparation.
Among the cases settled was that of comedian Steve Coogan, who was in court for the hearing.
The only outstanding cases left was brought by singer Charlotte Church, who has testified that Murdoch’s reporters grossly violated her privacy and that of her family, causing great distress. The judge ordered a short break before more details could be released.
The scandal over phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid boiled over after it emerged that journalists at the paper had routinely hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians, sports figures and even crime victims.
The now-defunct tabloid has already settled with several prominent figures, including actress Sienna Miller and the family of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was broken into by the paper soon after her disappearance in 2002.