JUDE LAW ACCEPTS SETTLEMENT IN PHONE-HACKING CASE

Jude Law, who appeared to be a favorite target of gossip writers at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct London tabloid News of the World, has received £130,000 (about $200,000) plus legal costs to settle his invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the media company. The settlement was one of 37 disclosed in court today (Thursday) by News International in connection with the telephone hacking scandal that brought down the Sunday scandal sheet last year. Law’s ex-wife, designer Sadie Frost, was also among the 37. She received £50,000 (about $77,000). Last June, Law’s ex-girlfriend, Sienna Miller, settled her hacking lawsuit against News International, the News Corp unit which published the News of the World, for £100,000 ($155,000). The payment to Law was far higher than those made to the other 36. A legal source told Britain’s Guardian newspaper that the reason for the higher amount was that Law had been the victim of hacking and surveillance by News of the World for years versus one or two instances involving the others. In a statement to the court, Law said that his phone had been hacked repeatedly — in one case while he was at New York’s JFK airport. “No aspect of my private life was safe from the News of the World,” he said.