Phone Hacking: Hugh Grant Files for Damages (Report)

LONDON – Hugh Grant's tussle with the press over phone hacking will hit the courts after it emerged the actor has filed for damages from News Corp.'s U.K. publishing division News International.

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Grant, according to a report in The Guardian, is seeking damages over alleged News of the World phone hacking and has vowed to give any money he wins to helping fellow victims.

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The actor's claim was filed at the high court Thursday, 24 hours ahead of the Sept. 14 deadline for further civil damages claims set by judge presiding over cases already filed by dozens of celebrities and public figures.

Grant has been a leading figure in the calls to stop invasion of privacy by paparazzi and reporters and recently became a director of Hacked Off, a not-for-profit company that campaigns for press reform in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

The actor, whose resume includes turns in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, has played a leading and early role, along with Steve Coogan and Sienna Miller, in pushing the Metropolitan police to disclose evidence to phone hacking victims.

But he has not taken legal action until now.

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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's News International division is expected to face a slew of fresh claims for phone hacking damages by Friday's deadline.

News International has already paid out in more than 50 cases including Jude Law, Miller and Coogan.