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  1. Media Law
March 10, 2010

NoW in ‘£1m’ legal settlement with Max Clifford

By Dominic Ponsford

The News of the World has settled its privacy action with publicist Max Clifford in a deal worth more than £1m, The Guardian today reports.

Clifford was pursuing a civil legal action for breach of privacy after his mobile phone voicemail messages were intercepted by News of the World-employed private investigator Glenn Mulcaire between 2005 and 2007.

It was part of the widespread phone hacking employed by Mulcaire and News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman which saw the pair being jailed in 2007.

According to The Guardian the Clifford settlement is worth over £1m, including legal costs and personal payments which will not be described as damages.

The Guardian has previously revealed that £1m was paid to chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association Gordon Taylor, his legal advisor Jo Armstrong and another un-named legal advisor after they also sued for breach of privacy over phone-hacking.

Gordon Taylor was also named in the original case against Goodman and Mulcaire.

The settlement means that Clifford will not now be making public new documents he had obtained from the Information Commissioner relating to Operation Motorman.

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This was the 2002 inquiry which found that 305 journalists representing nearly every national newspaper had been involved in buying information from private investigator Steve Whittamore, much of which may have been illegally obtained by him.

In 2006, the Information Commissioner revealed that the NoW was one of the most prolific users of Whittamore with 19 journalists buying 182 pieces of information from him. The documents obtained by Clifford would have revealed more details like the journalists’ names and the amounts paid.

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