Murdoch Settles Suits by Dozens of Victims of Hacking

Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has agreed to pay substantial damages to several dozen high-profile victims of phone and e-mail hacking, and lawyers for those victims said that they had seen documents showing that senior managers not only knew about the hacking but also lied about it and destroyed evidence as part of a cover-up.

The High Court hearing on Jan 19 at which the settlements were detailed was a humiliating occasion for Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, which published the now-defunct tabloid at the heart of the hacking scandal, The News of the World. In a courtroom so jammed with lawyers, victims and members of the news media that some people had to sit on the floor, News Group’s lawyer, Michael Silverleaf, repeatedly expressed the company’s “sincere apologies” for “the damage, as well as the distress” caused to victim after victim. The list of 37 victims settling with the company included politicians, celebrities, actors and sports figures, as well as people in their inner circles — employees, spouses, lovers. It is unclear how much News Group will end up having to pay after all the cases are finally settled, but the total bill for the 18 victims whose settlement details were disclosed Thursday reaches well above $1 million. According to the police, there may be as many as 800 victims.