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Victim of false tabloid 'orgy' story loses Europe case

By the CNN Wire Staff
Max Mosley attending a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in January 2011.
Max Mosley attending a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in January 2011.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Former motor racing boss Max Mosley sued a newspaper over false reporting
  • He won damages, but took the case further on privacy grounds
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(CNN) -- Newspapers do not have to warn people that they are going to publish details about their private lives before going to press, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday, rejecting a complaint by former Formula 1 motor racing boss Max Mosley.

Mosley sued the British tabloid weekly News of the World after it published a 2008 story about him under the headline "F1 boss has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers."

A British court found that there was no Nazi element to the incident, which was secretly recorded by one of the participants, and ordered the tabloid to pay Mosley 60,000 British pounds (about $98,000).

But Mosley said the judgment did not go far enough in protecting his private life, and took the case to the European Court of Human Rights. The court Tuesday rejected his claim.