£9.54M DUE BY 4PM AFTER HARRY'S PRIVACY CASE COLLAPSES

🔴 £9.54M, roughly $13M, due by 4 p.m. on August 28th.

That is the initial costs payment a U.K. High Court judge ordered Prince Harry and six other claimants to make to Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, SheFinds reports, after they lost their case over alleged unlawful information gathering in stories published between 1997 and 2015.

The other claimants include Sir Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.

And £9.54M is only the down payment. Associated is seeking approximately £34.5M in total. Mr Justice Nicklin said a claim for costs in excess of £34M was "on its face, excessive" and raised "real concerns" about whether all of it was reasonably incurred. He still declined to cap the figure, saying a limit "would risk unfairness" and could be "arbitrary."

Here is the part that turns a legal loss into a personal one. The claimants' insurance reportedly covers up to £16M.

"The Mail can now seek costs well above the court-approved budget and the £16M insurance cap," lawyer Iain Wilson told CNN. "While it is unlikely the Mail will recover its full £34.5M claim, any award exceeding £16M must be paid by the claimants personally."

The judge also called the claimants' conduct "unreasonable to a high degree" and said it was "striking" that not a single allegation of serious wrongdoing was voluntarily withdrawn.

Harry and Lawrence said in a statement: "We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither." A publisher spokesperson called the ruling an "overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists."

Should losing side pay the winner's legal costs, or does that price ordinary people out of court?

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