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  1. Media Law
May 26, 2015updated 27 May 2015 1:47pm

Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley and Jemima Khan among 98 confirmed legal claims against Mirror titles in wake of hacking scandal

By William Turvill

Mirror Group Newspapers has now been sued by nearly 100 actors, sports stars and other individuals in the High Court in the wake of the hacking scandal at the titles.

Press Gazette previously reported the names of 50 claimants, mainly celebrities, in January.

Since then, 48 more people have filed claims against MGN in the Chancery Division of the High Court.

Of these, 39 claims were filed on 5 and 6 March, during the course of a two-week High Court trial to decide on appropriate damages for eight claimants.

Last week, Mr Justice Mann ruled that the eight should receive a combined £1.2m in damages, with the biggest payout – £260,250 – going to actress Sadie Frost.

Previously, the biggest reported Mirror hacking payout went to stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton, who received £75,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Among the latest claimants to sue in the High Court are celebrities Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, Jemima Khan, Rhys Ifans and Nigel Havers.

The 98 claims are divided into two tranches, with the first made up of 28 and the second of 70.

The first tranche of claimants include the eight who were awarded privacy payouts at the High Court last week.

They are:

  • Footballer Paul Gascoigne: £188,250
  • Actress Sadie Frost: £260,250.
  • BBC executive Alen Yentob: £85,000
  • Actress Shobna Gulati: £117,500
  • Actress Lucy Taggart: £157,250
  • Actor Shane Ritche: £155,000
  • TV producer Robert Ashworth: £201,250
  • Flight attendant Lauren Acorn: £72,500.

Following last week's court ruling, Trinity Mirror has increased its estimated costs for dealing with phone-hacking from £12m to £28m.

These 65 people have filed claims against MGN for phone-hacking in the second tranche:

  1. Meg Matthews
  2. George Calil
  3. Sarah Lancashire
  4. Peter Salmon
  5. Denise Van Outen
  6. Pearl Lowe
  7. Danny Goffey
  8. Chris Hughes
  9. John Leslie
  10. Amanda Holden
  11. Patricia Lake-Smith
  12. Michael Foster
  13. Hugh Grant
  14. Hilary Perrin
  15. Rhys Ifans
  16. Clair Dobbs
  17. Caroline Chikezie
  18. Tina Hobley
  19. Jeff Brazier
  20. Kelly Hoppen MBE
  21. Samantha Thomson
  22. Leslie Heseltine
  23. Stephen Murray
  24. Denise Welch
  25. William Kenwright
  26. Suzanne Shaw
  27. Elizabeth Hurley
  28. Jemima Khan
  29. Nigel Havers
  30. Alison Griffin
  31. Angus Deayton
  32. Daniel Taylor
  33. Timothy Horlick
  34. Jayne Claire Walton
  35. Tamzin Outhwaite
  36. Sam Rush
  37. Steve McFadden
  38. Kym Marsh
  39. Michael Ambrose
  40. Louisa Lytton
  41. Neil Ruddock
  42. Stephen Rider
  43. Lisa Moorish
  44. Ian Cotton
  45. Sir Clive Woodward
  46. James Mullord
  47. Ben Freeman
  48. Phil Tufnell
  49. Dawn Tufnell
  50. Neil Morrissey
  51. Emma Killick
  52. Natasha Kaplinsky
  53. Polly Ravenscroft
  54. Caroline Aherne
  55. Patrick Aherne
  56. Christopher Parker
  57. Simon Clegg
  58. Danny Young
  59. Sarah Manners
  60. Samia Ghadie
  61. Kate Ford
  62. Alan Halsall
  63. Lucy-Jo Hudson
  64. Ambi Sitham
  65. Sarah Parish

These five individuals have also filed claims against MGN in the High Court in recent months, but Press Gazette does not have confirmation that these relate to phone-hacking:

  1. Allan Forrest
  2. Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen
  3. Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen
  4. Sarah Davison
  5. Jim Threapleton

The 28 people below are those who made up the first tranche of claims against MGN, with the majority understood to have agreed settlements in or out of court.

  1. Alan Yentob
  2. Sadie Frost
  3. Paul Gascoigne
  4. Lucy Taggart
  5. Shane Richie
  6. Shobna Gulati 
  7. Lauren Alcorn 
  8. Robert Ashworth
  9. Nicola Horlick
  10. Emma Noble
  11. Bobby Holland Hanton
  12. Cilla Black
  13. Robert Willis
  14. Peter Andre
  15. Jessie Wallace
  16. Darren Day
  17. Sven-Goran Eriksson
  18. Christopher Eccleston
  19. Abbie Gibson
  20. Christie Roche
  21. Phil Dale
  22. Garry Flitcroft
  23. Ben Jackson
  24. Davina McCall
  25. Sheryl Gascoigne
  26. John Thomson
  27. Edmund Jordan
  28. Holly Davidson

According to analysis by the Media Standards Trust, some 591 individuals have successfully claimed compensation from News Group Newspapers for phone-hacking at the News of the World. News Corp claims that the cost so far of the hacking scandal at the News of the World is $512m (£332m).

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