Hugh Grant & Elizabeth Hurley Win Cash Payout Over Holiday Snaps 5/15/08

Actor Hugh Grant and his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley have won $116,000 (£58,000) in damages for invasion of privacy, after they were photographed on holiday in a private resort in the Maldives.

Grant, model Hurley and her businessman husband Arun Nayar filed suit against photo agencies Big Pictures (U.K.) Limited and Eliot Press SARL last year (07), when snaps of the trio on holiday were published in a number of British newspapers.

Laura Tyler, the lawyer representing Grant, Hurley and Nayar, appeared at London's High Court on Thursday morning (15May08), when she told Mr. Justice Eady that the pictures had been taken covertly and without her clients' knowledge. She also argued that the claimants had chosen the resort because it offered them complete privacy and seclusion.

She told the court: "It has been most upsetting for the claimants to have their privacy invaded by these defendants." The photos were later printed in the News of the World and The Mail on Sunday newspapers, as well as a number of celebrity magazines.

In addition to the cash for damages, the claimants will receive some money towards their legal costs from the two photo agencies, and agency bosses apologized for any distress their actions may have caused. Further contributions will also be made by the News of the World's publisher News Group Newspapers, and Associated Newspapers, which prints The Mail on Sunday.