Daily Mirror publisher loses phone hacking appeal in the Court of Appeal, and Trinity Mirror share price closes down for the day
Mirror Group Newspapers had its appeal over the amount of damages it had to pay in relation to phone hacking thrown out by the Court of Appeal today.
Earlier this year, the company was ordered to pay eight individuals compensation in range from £72,500 to £260,250 each, totaling £1.2m overall, after staff gained unauthorised access to their voicemail messages.
The newspaper publisher argued that the awards were disproportionate.
However, in her judgment dismissing the appeal, Lady Justice Arden called the actions of Mirror Group Newspapers's employees "disgraceful" and remarked that there had been "misuses of private information beyond our ability to know and count".
A Trinity Mirror spokesperson said:
We are disappointed that the original judgment in the civil trial for the assessment of damages related to phone hacking has been upheld. We continue to believe that that the basis used for calculating damages is incorrect and the amounts awarded are excessive and disproportionate, far beyond what could be expected in cases of serious physical injury or mental suffering.
The spokesperson went on to note that the company intended to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Share price for Trinity Mirror closed down 1.4 per cent today. The company also remarked that it would be increasing its provision to deal with matters surrounding the case by £13m.
Steven Heffer, partner at Collyer Bristow, a law firm which has acted for more than 200 victims of phone hacking, commented:
The question for the court was whether the judge was reasonable in making the awards and it has decided he was. The Court highlighted the exceptional nature of the claims and had regard to the wide circulation of the private information to a very large number of people. It touched upon the most intimate part of the lives of some of the Claimants and understandably caused great distress.