Thursday, December 4, 1997
Liz Hurley wins damages over tabloid article
LONDON (AP) -- Elizabeth Hurley accepted undisclosed damages Wednesday stemming from a
tabloid story alleging that she would make herself available to any man who fancied her
for 12,000 pounds (about $29,000 Cdn).
Headlined Rent-A-Liz, It's a Bargain, the June 1996 story in the Daily Mirror contained a purported transcript of a phone conversation between a journalist posing as the sister of a man who "really fancies Liz" and a model agency.
The article concluded with what Hurley's lawyers termed a "grossly offensive" comparison between their client and Divine Brown, the prostitute who was arrested with Hurley's longtime boyfriend, actor Hugh Grant.
Marcus Partington, representing MGN Ltd., the Daily Mirror's parent company, said the item about Hurley was intended to be lighthearted.
The newspaper conceded the allegations were without foundation and should never have been published. It agreed to pay damages and Hurley's legal costs.