Manchester United star likely to receive tens of thousands of pounds as 46 other claims continue against News International
Ryan Giggs has settled his phone-hacking civil action against News of the World publisher News International, the high court has been told.
The amount the Manchester United star received in damages was not disclosed at a phone-hacking case management conference at the high court on Friday, but is likely to run to tens of thousands of pounds.
Giggs launched his action against the News of the World almost a year ago, in June 2011, weeks after he was visited by Metropolitan police officers who told him his name was in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal.
He was in the first group of litigants to sue News International last October but was one of six carried over to the second round of cases because of outstanding issues.
The Mulcaire paperwork details the private investigator's activities during 2005 and 2006, when Giggs was allegedly conducting an eight-year affair with his sister-in-law, details of which were revealed by the News of the World shortly before its closure last year.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, the counsel for phone-hacking victims, told the case management conference on Friday that there were still 46 active cases against News International.
"There are 47 issued claims on the register, one of which has settled since the last case management conference," Tomlinson said in court.
One new case has been lodged since the last case management conference, by TV presenter June Sarpong, who hosted a Channel 4's Sunday morning strand T4 for eight years.
Others on the list of active claimants include Cherie Blair, David Beckham's father Ted, actor Jimmy Nesbitt and Emma Noble, John Major's former daughter in law.
Mr Justice Vos, who is overseeing the phone-hacking litigation, said there were "over 100 cases" on the group register, indicating that many more have yet to file their claims with the court.
Friday's case management conference was aiming to establish a tariff of costs that could be expected by any new claimant.
Vos is determined to keep costs down by ensuring common research is shared among all litigants where possible. He repeated his warning made at the last conference that litigants were entitled to representation but not to use solicitors who had no knowledge of phone hacking and passed all ensuing costs on to News International.
Tomlinson told the court there were three types of cases ranging from the worst instances of sustained phone hacking and surveillance, such as that suffered by Jude Law, to the smaller cases which involved hacking but did not result in any article being published.
Asked how many cases similar to Law's were likely to come before the court, Michael Silverleaf, QC for News International, said: "I don't think it would be in the tens."
Law was awarded damages of £130,000 earlier this year after it emerged he had been targeted for three years between 2003 and 2006.
Vos said he wanted to ensure costs were "modest" and proportionate to the damages but said claimants who did not have articles published against them still had the right to a full investigation.
"Clients will only settle when they know the are being properly investigated. It has to be a cathartic. The whole purpose of this litigation is to achieve peace with the people who have been intercepted," the judge said.
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