Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers asked for litigation to be brought to an end 15 years after scandal broke
The publisher of the News of the World has failed in its attempt to force a deadline on potential victims of the phone-hacking scandal to make claims against it.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers
(NGN), which published the now defunct newspaper as well as the Sun,
asked for litigation to be brought to an end 15 years after the scandal
broke.
About
1,028 claims have already been settled, plus an additional 358
applications that were made to a compensation scheme run by parent
company News International between 2011 and 2016.
But
NGN’s lawyers were rebuffed when they argued at a hearing in London
that it is time to impose a final deadline on potential victims to file
new claims against the organisation.
The
failed bid comes as the Sun recorded a loss of £51m last year. NGN spent
£49m on legal fees and damages relating to historical phone-hacking
allegations in the year to 27 June 2021. This compares with the £80m NGN
spent the previous year.
There could be as
many as “20,000 to 25,000 potential victims of NGN’s unlawful
information gathering” and there should be no cut-off date, lawyers
representing a number of victims argued.
David Sherborne, representing the claimant group, said NGN’s application for a final cut-off date was “misconceived”.
He
argued that the “vast majority of victims do not know they have a claim
due to the intentionally covert nature of NGN’s unlawful information
gathering and its deliberate concealment of the same”. …
You didn’t just hack slebs’ phones, you hacked a murdered girl’s phone, you sick fucks. Your entire business should have been shut, and all your assets frozen until all your victims receive proper compensation after your spying on them.
Stewards sought on Facebook to replace crew members sacked without notice
One of the maritime agencies recruiting workers
for P&O Ferries is advertising for crew members, saying no previous
experience at sea required.
Union officials warn that P&O Ferries could be jeopardising safety after dismissing 800 crew members and
replacing them with workers paid less than the minimum wage. One of the
firm’s vessels has been detained at Larne in Northern Ireland for being
“unfit to sail” because of concerns over training.
One
of the companies recruiting for P&O Ferries, CSM Baltics – part of
Columbia Shipmanagement, one of the world’s largest ship managers – has
posted an ad on Facebook saying: “We are looking for a large number of
stewards to work 12 hours day on board our ships and to have rest of 12
hours in hotels in France. No seafarers’ documents are needed, just
previous experience in hospitality institutions.”
The ad goes on to say the stewards will work a pattern of eight weeks on and eight weeks off. …
