Test cases proposal in phone-hacking scandal

A PUBLIC apology from Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, designed to contain an escalating phone-hacking scandal, looked to have failed after a judge said civil cases against the firm could run into next year at least.

At a case-management conference called to decide how best to manage a potential flood of lawsuits, the presiding judge yesterday proposed testing four lead cases, including that of actress Sienna Miller, and said they could be ready around the end of the year.

So far 24 public figures who believe their voicemail messages were intercepted by journalists at the popular News of the World tabloid are suing News International, the British newspaper arm of News Corp.