A judge will rule later this week on whether “more vast expenditure” should be incurred in further disclosure to claimants in the phone-hacking litigation.
Mr Justice Geoffrey Vos, who is due to assess compensation relating to 154 claims next June, heard that the cost of searches so far was “well into seven figures”.
On the issue of whether it would be proportionate to order further disclosure by News Group Newspapers, he told lawyers for the claimants at London’s High Court they already had “the most amazing admissions” from NGN.
There had been a great deal of disclosure and they had as complete a picture as they could get without “a further bucket-load of money being spent”.
“The question is why, in the face of all that history, should there now be more vast expenditure. What are you going to get out of it?”
During this latest case management conference, the claimants said they would not pursue their case for punitive exemplary damages against NGN so as to avoid any prejudice to the September 2013 criminal trial linked to the investigation.