News Corporation Settles With 36 Hacking Victims LONDON - In the latest twist in Britain's phone hacking scandal, the actor Jude Law and John Prescott, a former British deputy prime minister, were named Thursday in a list of 36 victims of alleged hacking who have reached out-of-court settlements with Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Andrew Cowie/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images The actor Jude Law was among a list of 36 victims of alleged hacking who was said to have reached a settlement with News Corp. An opposition Labour lawmaker, Chris Bryant, and soccer player Ashley Cole were also among those who have settled, but several more people who claim their voice mail was illegally hacked are pursuing court actions set to come to trial next month, lawyers for some of the claimants said. A statement by lawyers representing people who claim to be victims of hacking said the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch's global News Corporation had agreed to compensation "being assessed on the basis that senior employees and directors" of the company "knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence." The apparent admission of a cover-up seemed likely to add to the challenges facing Mr. Murdoch in Britain. News International, the British subsidiary of News Corporation said it would not immediately comment, Reuters reported. The settlements disclosed on Thursday represent only a small number of the cases in which the police say illicit phone intercepts have been alleged by potential claimants. Mark Lewis, a lawyer for many of the phone hacking victims, said in an e-mail that the claimants" fight against the Murdoch media properties was not over. "It is important that we don't get carried away into thinking that the war is over," Mr. Lewis said, according to The Associated Press. There are many more cases in the pipeline. He added: "This is too early to celebrate, we're not even at the end of the beginning." The scandal, which exploded last year into a full-blown crisis for Mr. Murdoch's holdings in Britain, has led to a series of police and judicial inquiries into the behavior of journalists, police officers and politicians. At the same, disclosures about hacking by a private investigator employed by The News of the World - a 168-year-old Sunday tabloid that Mr. Murdoch ordered closed last year as the scandal spread - forced a series of high-level resignations, including that of Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor who later became media adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron. He resigned a year ago amid continued questions about his possible involvement in the illegal hacking. At least 17 people have been arrested by police. News reports on Thursday did not immediately specify the total amount involved in the settlements. But claimants, who spoke in return for anonymity, said the sums ranged between roughly $40,000 and $200,000 dollars, in addition to legal costs incurred by claimants and News Corp.. The 36 claimants who were reported to have settled included a number of celebrities. But the total number seeking compensation is reported to number more than 60. All of the cases dealt with voice mail interception except one which related to alleged hacking of the personal e-mail account of Christopher Shipman, the son of convicted mass murderer Harold Shipman.