Mosley to donate damages
Max Mosley, the president of world governing body, the FIA, has pledged to give away the £60,000 he was awarded yesterday after winning his High Court battle with a national newspaper.
The News of the World was ordered to pay damages after Mr Justice Eady ruled the paper had invaded his privacy by publishing details of a sadomasochistic sex session involving Mosley and five prostitutes.
The judge also backed the assertion by Mosley – the son of 1930s fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley – that the incident did not have a Nazi theme, as the paper had alleged.
Mosley was not granted the unprecedented award of punitive damages as well, although the paper will also have to pay legal costs estimated at around £850,000.
The 68-year-old welcomed the verdict and said he would fulfil a pledge to donate the £60,000 damages. “As I promised at the outset, the damages will go to the FIA Foundation to further their work for road safety and the environment,” said Mosley.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Eady said there was “no public interest or other justification” for the paper publishing information, photographs and secret video footage of the orgy.
Mosley added: “I am delighted with that judgment, which is devastating for the News of the World. It demonstrates that their Nazi lie was completely invented and had no justification.”
News of the World editor Colin Myler said the judgement was a blow for freedom of expression, and insisted what the paper had published was “legitimate and lawful”.
The controversy over Mosley’s personal life has overshadowed much of the current Formula One season and almost cost him his job.
Mosley resisted widespread calls to resign and won a vote of confidence last month, although around a third of FIA member organisations opposed him. He has vowed to see out his current term, which is due to end in October 2009.