November 24, 2014

The hotly anticipated High Court case of former Morgan Stanley banker, Daniel Hegglin, against Google has settled on the first day of trial. Daniel Hegglin was asking Google to block access to more than 3,600 anonymous website hostings falsely accusing him of being a paedophile and a murderer. The case, due to begin today, would have been a landmark trial. Details of the settlement have not been revealed but an agreed statement was read out in court this morning. Hugh Tomlinson QC, Hegglin’s barrister said: “The settlement includes significant efforts on Google’s part to remove the abusive material from Google-hosted websites and from its search results. Mr Hegglin will now concentrate his energies on bringing the persons responsible for this campaign of harassment to justice.” On behalf of Google, Anthony White QC said: “Google provides search services to millions of people and cannot be responsible for policing internet content. It will, however, continue to apply its procedures that have been developed to assist with the removal of content which breaches local applicable laws.” The case had previously made headlines because of the huge legal fees involved. The parties’ costs were anticipated to reach £2.36 million by the end of a five-day trial.