US court revives Diana lawsuit

A Los Angeles state appeals court has revived part of a lawsuit brought by Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed that accuses a Beverly Hills lawyer of a $20m (£13m) scheme to sell false documents claiming Diana, Princess of Wales, was assassinated.

The 2nd District Court of Appeals said a lower court erred in throwing out the ‘‘unjust enrichment’’ claim in the 1999 lawsuit by billionaire Al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed in the 1997 Paris car crash along with the Princess.

The appellate panel, however, upheld the dismissal of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conspiracy and infliction of emotional distress claims.

Both sides were given 30 days to appeal the April 25 ruling, which would send what is left of the case back to Los Angeles Superior Court.

‘‘We’re very pleased. We went from having no case at all to having some case,’’ Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Al Fayed, said yesterday in Washington.

The lawyer being sued, Keith Fleer, has denied he ever claimed the documents were genuine.

Diana, Dodi Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul were killed when the Mercedes they were travelling in crashed in a Paris traffic tunnel. Test results showed Paul was drunk at the time.

Al Fayed refused to accept that the crash was an accident, saying he believed a conspiracy was involved.

His lawsuit claims that Fleer, Patrick McMillan, George Williamson and Oswald LeWinter tried to sell Al Fayed forged documents in 1998 indicating the CIA and British intelligence had discussed an assassination.

The suit charges that Fleer suggested offering the documents to Al Fayed for $20m.

Al Fayed agreed to pay but contacted the US Government and a sting operation was conducted, during which he wired the defendants $25,000 (£16,000) on a Government promise that ‘‘these guys would be prosecuted’’, Zaid said.

In the end, LeWinter was the only person to face criminal charges.

He was convicted of attempted criminal fraud and served time in an Austrian prison before being released in December.