The actor
has accepted an “enormous” settlement from the Sun in return for dropping his claim that he was illegally targeted by the newspaper’s journalists.
Grant had said he had wanted to fight the case and go to trial, where the Sun’s top executives could be called to give evidence. But he has concluded he cannot afford to turn down the payout from the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, which he will be donating to press regulation charities.
This is because of a quirk in the way the English legal system encourages both sides to settle cases before trial or risk financial oblivion owing to the legal costs involved.
It all hinges on a technical piece of civil law procedure known as a “Part 36 offer”.
The Sun has used this provision to offer Grant what he has called an “enormous” amount of money to settle the case. The actor’s lawyers have advised him that this is more money than he is likely to be awarded in damages by a judge after a trial, even if his case were completely successful.
As a result, under the Part 36 rules, even if he were victorious at trial, Grant could find himself having to pay the enormous legal costs for both sides.
